The Research Council's Principles for Open Access to Scientific Publications

Scientific publications based on R&D projects funded wholly or partially by the Research Council must be made openly accessible to all interested parties. To achieve this objective, the Research Council will work to take full advantage of the potential found in digital media and infrastructure to disseminate and quality assure research results.

Universal standardisation of research reports

At the request of the Ministry of Education and Research, the Research Council of Norway has formulated guidelines for making research reports and websites containing research-related content more accessible for the blind and vision-impaired.

The guidelines have been formulated in anticipation of the stipulations of the new regulations to the Anti-discrimination and Accessibility Act currently being drafted. The Research Council encourages research groups to adopt the guidelines immediately.

View the guidelines: Accessibility guidelines for electronic publications (PDF-329.8 KB)

The guidelines have been drawn up in cooperation with Synshemmede Akademikere (an association for vision-impaired academics), Dyslexia Norway, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs, the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud and the Agency for Public Management and eGovernment.

The Research Council's requirements for open access to scientific publications

Open access to scientific publications entails substantial benefits for society. The Research Council will therefore require that peer-reviewed scientific articles based on research funded wholly or partially by the Research Council are self-archived in appropriate repositories whenever these are available. The requirement to self-archive must not, however, conflict with the author's academic or legal rights.

Self-archiving: Infrastructure and user perspective

Scientific journal articles that meet the requirements must be stored in an open electronic repository, either at the institution with which the researcher is affiliated or in a subject-specific archive. In most cases a post-print version of the article is stored. If the author has published in a journal that does not permit self-archiving and has not obtained permission from the publisher to do so after having made such a request, the author may be exempted from the self-archiving requirement.

Cooperation and advice

Open access publishing is under continual development, and in the long run may lead to major changes in publication patterns and practices in research and academia. It is crucial that the Research Council's principles in this area reflect this development and are open to adaptation should circumstances call for it. To ensure that the principles promote the objective of open access to scientific publications at all times, the Research Council must strive to maintain a productive, ongoing dialogue with relevant institutions and partners.

For further comments on these principles, click the link on the right.