EUA Working Group on Open Access

The European University Association (EUA) recently established a “Working Group on Open Access”. Its goal is: (i) to raise awareness of open access to scholarship to the university community; and (ii) to develop a common strategy on key selected issues. The EUA Working Group has identified five “priority issues”:

1) Universities’ public role and responsibility as “guardians” of research knowledge/results as “public goods” – the preparation of statements and positions addressed to academic authors, and to public funding bodies.
2) The need for well-functioning open access repositories and networking between them (on the basis of common standards) for archiving purposes as a viable alternative to other modes of publication in the digital world.
3) Strengthening of legal rights position (non-exclusive copyright) and related legal requirements through the promotion, advancement or encouragement of model copyright agreements at university/ institutional as well as individual researcher level.
4) The promotion, advancement or encouragement of business models for publishing based upon open access principles.
5) The promotion, advancement or encouragement of peer review and quality control mechanisms by academic researchers for open access journals.

The 26 January, 2007 statement of the EUA Working Group on Open Access is available here.