Dutch research institutions and Elsevier, a global leader in scientific information and analytics, have entered into new agreements aimed at supporting open access publishing and advancing the Netherlands’ status as a leader in open science. The agreements, which began on January 1, 2025, will run for two years with an optional third-year extension.
The collaboration involves several key stakeholders, including the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres (NFU), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-i), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and 23 universities of applied sciences. The University Libraries and National Library (UKB) represented the organizations in the negotiations.
Under the new agreements, researchers in the Netherlands will retain reading rights to Elsevier’s extensive portfolio of peer-reviewed journals on ScienceDirect. Additionally, the agreements provide for 100% open access publishing in eligible journals across all participating institutions, reinforcing the Netherlands’ commitment to making scientific research freely accessible.
The agreements also emphasize transparency, addressing key areas such as privacy, artificial intelligence (AI), text and data mining, and user rights. In a separate arrangement, researchers will gain access to Scopus, Elsevier’s multidisciplinary abstract and citation database.
These agreements are part of the Netherlands’ broader vision outlined in its Open Science 2030 initiative, which focuses on creating an inclusive, sustainable, and publicly steered scholarly communication system. The collaboration aims to further innovation and foster a collective publication strategy aligned with shared principles of openness and transparency.
The contract will be publicly available and registered in the ESAC Registry, underscoring the commitment to accountability and accessibility.
This partnership reaffirms the Netherlands’ leadership in open science and its dedication to supporting research excellence through collaboration and innovation.
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