The Swedish Research Council mandates Open Access

Press release (in Swedish - translation from the Swedish by Ingegerd Rabow):

The Swedish Research Council requires free access to research results.

In order to receive research grants the Research council requires now that researchers publish their material freely accessible to all.

The general public and other researchers shall have free access to all material financed by public funding,

The thought behind the so called Open Access is that everybody shall have free and unlimited access to scientifically refereed articles, The Research Council has now decided, that researchers who are granted research funding from the Council shall publish their refereed texts in journals and at conferences in this way.

"We are of the opinion that texts presenting research funded by public funds shall be freely available to all," says professor Pär Omling Director General of the Swedish Research Council. "Open Access is an important prerequisite for the dissemination of research results to the benefit of society."

Researchers are required to guarantee that everything published shall be freely available according to to Open Access not later than six months after publication.

The Council's decision regarding Open Access has been taken in close cooperation with SUHF, the Association of Swedish Higher Education. To promote free dissemination of research results is not and isolated Swedish occurrence, The so called Berlin Declaration aiming to implement Open Access has been signed by several large, mainly European research funders.

The Open Access-mandate covers so far only refereed journal articles and conference reports, not monographs and book chapters. The mandate will be included in the new grant conditions from 2010..

For more information, contact
HÃ¥kan Billig, main secretary for the Medical Council, tel +46 8-546 44 294, e-post hakan.billig@vr.se
Pär Omling, Director General the Swedish Research Council, tel +46 8-546 44 185, e-post par.omling@vr.se