Taverne – You share, we take care!

The general idea is that results of research that were (partly) funded with public money should be (at least) accessible to the public.

Maastricht University expects its scholars to take every opportunity to share knowledge and experience through Open Access. Together, we are working towards 100% OA.

Analyses have shown that OA publications attract more academic and social attention than publications ‘behind a paywall’. You will be able to reach a broad audience more quickly!

Dutch Copyright Law grants you a personal right to publish your work Open Access. The library needs your permission to share your work for you.

The license ends when you leave Maastricht University, but we will keep the publications disclosed during your employment at UM findable and accessible via UM Research Information (Pure).

The online agreement also warrants full legal backing (see other FAQ). You can use this UM Intranet form to give permission. You can exclude publications from the Open Access permission using this UM Intranet exclusion form.

No, Dutch law gives you a right to share your work irrespective of the rights of co-authors.

Of course, it is polite to inform co-authors that the work has been made public. They may also want to participate and share their other closed publications.

Article 25fa is an amendment to Dutch copyright passed in 2015, also known as the Taverne amendment.

The law grants individual researchers a personal right to share their short scientific works irrespective of the right of publishers or co-authors. The publicly shared research should be partially funded by Dutch public funding.

The verbatim text of article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act (Auteurswet):

‘The author of a short scientific work funded either wholly or partially by Dutch public funds is entitled to make that work publicly available for no consideration following a reasonable period of time after the work was first published, provided that clear reference is made to the source of the first publication of the work.’

The guideline is an implementation of section 25fa of Dutch copyright law.

The text of article 25fa Dutch copyright is at some points vague and needs clarification for functional purposes. In 2019 all Dutch universities participated in a successful pilot [Evaluatierapport pilot You share, We Take Care (publieke versie)] to test practical guidelines for this law. Publications of hundreds of researchers have been made available using these guidelines without any legal objections from publishers.

The guideline is officially approved and sanctioned by The Association of Universities (UNL). Employees of Dutch Universities can use the direction to publish their work in any non-commercial repository or on their website. UNL has approved the guidelines and has pledged a guarantee for full legal backing for all researchers at Dutch Universities who publish according to these guidelines.

Maastricht University Library will use the conditions of the guideline to publish your work in UM Research Information for the ‘You share. We take care!’ initiative.

UNL guideline:

1. The work will be shared in its definitive, published version (VoR).
2. ‘A reasonable period’ will be uniformly interpreted as six months, regardless of discipline.
3. ‘First publication’ is when the published version first becomes available online.
4. ‘Short scientific work’ includes journal articles, conference papers, and individual chapters in ‘edited collections’. It does not include monographs or chapters of monographs.
5. Applies regardless if a publisher appeals to foreign law or only a (small) fraction of the co-authors has been funded by Dutch public funds. Including a researcher as a co-author is an apparent evidence that their contribution is of substantial value to the final product.

The legal basis of the guideline was thoroughly researched and tested in a nationwide pilot. No publisher raised legal objections. However, if a publisher should object, Maastricht University guarantees full legal backing.

In the event of an objection, the publisher (or another party) will address the sharing platform, i.e. UM Research Information. Should the publisher address you personally, it is essential to notify us as soon as possible.

Dutch law gives you the right to share your work irrespective of the rights you agreed on with a publisher.

This section of Dutch law takes precedence over any contract you signed and over foreign law.

The publisher’s version PDF (Version of Record – VoR) will be uploaded to UM Research Information (Pure) with an apparent reference to the source publication.

Using the Version of Record and correct reference to the source, we ensure proper citation.

We will present the Version of Record with a link for easy sharing on for instance Research Gate or social media.

We advise against posting publishers’ versions of PDFs on Research Gate or Academia.

Research Gate and Academia are commercial organisations. The law only allows you to share your work for no consideration. Sharing through a commercial organisation is therefore not allowed. However, you can post a link to the publication reference page or to the publisher’s version PDF in UM Research Information.

If you receive Plan S funding, you must retain your copyright and publish without any embargo under a CC-BY license. You cannot achieve compliance by sharing articles via Taverne.

Plan S requires that all publications resulting from funded research by funders participating in cOAlition S, are published Open Access. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Research Council (NWO), including ZonMW, participates in Coalition S and will implement Plan S from 2021 onwards.

However, a substantial amount of research at Dutch universities is not Plan S funded and can be shared using the guidelines if not published OA via a publisher.