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Publishers must provide clarity and transparency on Open Access – joint call from EUA, CESAER and Science Europe


25 May 2021

EUA joined CESAER and Science Europe to call on all publishers to fully respect researchers’ rights and to end the use of restrictions and embargoes. In a joint statement published on 25 May, the three partners representing more than 880 universities and research-performing and research-funding organisations called on all publishers to stop requiring researchers to sign over their rights. The document, signed by the presidents of the three organisations, is a strong show of support for Open Science and Open Access.


The statement expresses deep concern regarding the unclear practices of some publishers, in particular the examples recently reported by cOAlition S, that complicate and confuse matters for researchers. The organisations urge publishers to reconsider their position and modernise their approaches in a way that fully respects researchers’ rights, including sharing their peer-reviewed research findings without restrictions or embargoes.

Notably, the statement declares that researchers who wish to deposit their author-accepted manuscript in a repository with an open license (e.g., CC BY), and without any embargo, must be able to do so.

“It is time to make Open Access a permanent feature of the research system,” said EUA President Michael Murphy. “Researchers must be empowered through the freedom of choosing where and how they publish their findings – and this choice must include self-archiving their work in repositories to ensure Green Open Access. This is a simple question of fundamental values and respect.”

Currently, publishers commonly require authors to sign exclusive publishing agreements that restrict what authors can do with their research findings. The statement urges this outdated system to be replaced and supports a diversity of models for the open dissemination of research for the greater benefit of society.

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