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The Berlin Declaration.
What is the Berlin Declaration?
'The Berlin Declaration on Open
Access to Knowledge in the
Sciences and Humanities' is a clear
commitment to encouraging European
researchers to change their publishing
habits. Signed by heads of numerous
European research organizations and
funding bodies, it states: "Our organizations are interested in the further promotion of the new Open Access paradigm to gain the most benefit for science and society. Therefore, we intend to make progress by encouraging our researchers/grant recipients to publish their work according to the principles of the Open Access paradigm."
The Berlin Declaration gives a definition
of Open Access, in line with the
Bethesda Principles (see Open Access
Now, July 14, 2003). It also sets out
the steps the signatories will take to
support the transition to Open Access.
These include encouraging researchers
and grant recipients to publish the
results of their research according to
the principles of Open Access, and
advocating the recognition of Open
Access in promotion and tenure
evaluation.
Who is behind the
Berlin Declaration?
The Declaration came out of a
three-day conference hosted by the
Max Planck Society in Berlin in
October. It is signed by: President
of the Max Planck Society, Professor
Peter Gruss; the heads of six major
research organizations in Germany;
and a number of international
research organizations. The directors
of the two major French funding
agencies, Institut National de la
Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
(INSERM) and Centre National de
la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),
have also added their signatures to
the Declaration.
Why does the Berlin
Declaration exist?
The signatories state "we have drafted the Berlin Declaration to promote the Internet as a functional instrument for a global scientific knowledge base and human reflection and to specify measures which research policy makers, research institutions, funding agencies, libraries, archives and museums need to consider."
www.zim.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/
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