Negotiations on open access
Background
In Norway, agreements on access to literature have for several years been negotiated on behalf of research institutions, which can take part through consortia. A number of political guidelines/frameworks underpin this work; an overview can be found on this page: National strategies, policy and guidelines.
Responsibility for negotiating with publishers and administering the library consortium lies with the License agreements and open access unit (LÅT) at Sikt. Publishers' offers are analyzed and evaluated by LÅT's steering committee, consisting of library and university leaders, before a decision can be made.
Negotiation principles
The negotiation principles were drawn up in 2018 in cooperation between Universities Norway (UHR), the Association of Norwegian Research Institutes (FFA, Abelia) and the then-Unit (now Sikt). The principles were revised in 2021, in line with both Plan S and the Government's goal of full open access by 2024.
The shared principles are as follows:
- Articles with corresponding authors from Norway shall be openly available at the time of publication
- Open publishing shall not increase the total costs of the agreements
- Full transparency in license terms, costs and business models
- Permanent access to content published in subscription journals
- Movement should be shown toward agreements where costs are tied to the volume of publishing by Norwegian institutions
Universities Norway (UHR): Statement of support for a joint strategy for negotiations on open access to scientific articles. Norwegian. Published 2018, revised 2021.
The Association of Norwegian Research Institutes (FFA, Abelia): Statement of support for a joint strategy for negotiations on open access to scientific articles – revised negotiation principles. Norwegian, 2021.
Further negotiations
Meld. St. 5, Long-term Plan for Research and Higher Education 2023–2032, (Norwegian), Chapter 8, sets the direction for further negotiations. In summary, it states that a shift toward immediate open publishing in open journals or on open platforms is the Government's main objective, and that the transition period involving double payment for both publishing and reading should be as short as possible. Achieving this requires effort on several fronts going forward: Sikt must continue building the knowledge base for developing open publishing and contribute analyses of its economics. Publish-and-read agreements will remain an important tool during the transition, and the possibility of making work available through academic repositories must be strengthened — but the main effort must go into achieving open publishing channels that researchers experience as good and rewarding for their careers.
The report Strategy for Norwegian scientific publishing after 2024 (Norwegian) was published in December 2023. It is based on input from many actors in the sector and presents recommendations for the authorities, funders and research-performing institutions.
Which agreements are negotiated?
See the overview of Sikt's consortium agreements for open access: Agreements that include open access publishing.
Agreements run for one to three years at a time. They are renegotiated for each contract period, so new terms can take effect.
The main goal of the negotiations is to secure open publishing for Norwegian researchers through journal agreements. In line with the mandate to work for open access in Norway, Sikt's priority is agreements that support this — which in most cases will mean journal agreements. Support schemes that promote open research is also a priority. At the same time, Sikt shall work to ensure that the sector has broad access, which will include other types of agreements as well. However, the mandate(s) indicates that this will be a slightly lower priority.
The most recently concluded agreements are with pure open-access publishers and various support schemes, and Sikt is in dialogue with several additional providers.
Questions? Contact Sikt license agreements and open access: lisensavtaler@sikt.no