Open Access
Open Access to research results means that this material is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. The Library supports you in Open Access publishing.
Open Access articles come with a license, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. An extra condition can be non-commercial use.
Since the rise of fully Open Access journals some 15 years ago, there is a possibility to disseminate your research more widely. Some publishers nowadays also offer the option to make an individual article from subscription journals Open Access. Find out what the possibilities are or contact us for immediate support.
Quick starter
Improving Open Access (OA) for scientific publications is a key priority of the Dutch government. The Netherlands has opted for 100% OA for publicly funded research results in 2024 at a minimum of extra subscription costs. Wageningen University & Research must comply with the governmental and EU policies on OA, and has adopted a WUR Open Access policy.
WUR Journal Browser
WUR Journal Browser
Forms of Open Access
Make your research Open Access in an Open Access journal ('Gold'), in a 'Gold Hybrid' subscription journal, or self-archive your article in the repository Staff Publications ('Green'). WUR Library helps you to comply with funders policies, to choose a suitable form or to use financial arrangements for OA publishing.
Predatory journals
Requirements from EU and NWO
The Dutch Government, EU and Dutch National Funding organisations actively support the Golden road to Open Access and encourage publishing in Open Access journals. They suggest that research results (both scientific publications and research data) obtained using public funds must be made freely accessible worldwide. The Green road for publishing research results is also accepted for new NWO and Horizon 2020 projects.
Funding arrangements
There are many options for getting Open Access publishing of your articles funded. Check out the latest agreements for Wageningen University & Research (WUR) with publishers for different forms of Open Access.
Self-archiving (Green Open Access)
Green Open Access - also known as self-archiving - refers to the practice of providing Open Access to a version of an article published in a closed-access (subscription) journal, by depositing it in an institutional repository. Staff Publications is the repository of Wageningen University & Research. For journal articles that are not published Open Access, WUR authors must deliver the 'author version' of their manuscript to the Library for making it available via Green Open Access. Besides journal articles, other scientific output (e.g. PhD theses, conference proceedings) can also made freely available via Green Open Access.
WUR Open Access policy
The Dutch government, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), and the the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) aim to publish all publicly funded research Open Access. The Wageningen University & Research policy requires staff to publish articles, conference proceedings and PhD theses Open Access. Currently, more than half of the WUR peer-reviewed articles are Open Access, upon publication. If a journal article is not published Open Access with the publisher, the Library will make it freely available via WUR’s institutional repository, called Staff Publications. The author has to deliver the author version of his/her article, at request of the Library.
