The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the main Dutch science funding body, has launched a €1 million open access (OA) fund to help Dutch scientists establish new OA journals or convert existing journals to OA. Publisher BioMed Central has stated that it would be interested to hear from Dutch biologists and medical researchers who are thinking about establishing new OA journals or about converting existing subscription-based journals.
BioMed has expressed keenness to work with Dutch scientists to emulate the success stories of journals such as Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, Frontiers in Zoology (Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft) and Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, all of which claim to have been hugely successful since launching with or transferring to the publisher.
The NOW funding plan is the result of a wider initiative that started in 2010 when the organisation committed €5 million to encourage OA development. The deadline for submitting proposals is October 4, 2011.
NWO joins other major European funding bodies in supporting OA. Several initiatives, on a national and European level, have recently been put in place to accelerate OA publishing. More information on this funding is available online at www.nwo.nl/openaccess (English).
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), which is the major funding body in Germany, has also tied OA publishing into its funding policy. It reinforces its programme to help German universities to establish central OA funds by paying up to 75 percent of related costs.
Publisher BioMed Central has stated that it would be interested to hear from Dutch biologists and medical researchers who are thinking about establishing new OA journals or about converting existing subscription-based journals. It has expressed keenness to work with Dutch scientists to emulate the success stories of journals such as Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, Frontiers in Zoology (Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft) and Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, all of which claim to have been hugely successful since launching with or transferring to BioMed Central.
