Publishing in Open Access

At the request of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SEFRI) and with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), swissuniversities developed a national Open Access strategy during 2016.

The national Open Access strategy was adopted on 31 January 2017.

The Open Access strategy lays down the principles of a common vision for Swiss universities, according to which all publicly funded publications will be Open Access by 2024.

In order to put the Swiss national strategy into practice, a second stage consisted of developing an action plan during 2017 that determines the measures to be taken to implement the national strategy.

The revised Swiss National Open Access Strategy 2024, drawn up by swissuniversities in collaboration with the SNSF, aims to make all publicly-funded publications freely and immediately accessible, without embargoes or charges to readers. This revision builds on the 2017 strategy while incorporating international and national developments. It recognizes a diversity of access models (Diamond, Gold, Green, Hybrid) and covers a wider range of publication formats (articles, monographs, professional and artistic works). The overall goal is to promote a sustainable transformation to full open access by 2032, with a framework that promotes academic quality, editorial diversity and financial sustainability.

Guiding principles include reducing systemic dependencies on dominant publishers, connecting to international ecosystems and supporting institutions to integrate OA into their practices. The strategy sets out six main objectives, such as creating a favorable framework for open access publishing, strengthening the Diamant model, and promoting open access to long-form publications. Swissuniversities and the SNSF will coordinate efforts with institutions to align policies and ensure regular monitoring of progress, based on qualitative and quantitative indicators.

The adoption of a national strategy in spring 2017 and an action plan in February 2018 are significant milestones for the development of Open Access in Switzerland. From 2024, the strategy calls for all publicly funded publications to be freely accessible.

The SNSF has already set 2020 as the target date for making 100% of publications resulting from funding instruments available in Open Access. With this in mind, it has adopted a package of measures and new provisions that came into force on April 1, 2018. The SNSF is a member of cOAlition S, which launched Plan S to accelerate the transition to full Open Access. The SNSF has aligned its policy with Plan S since 2021.

From January 1, 2024, SNSF-funded publications must be immediately available in Open Access, without embargo. This concerns:

• Articles published in 100% Open Access journals (Gold OA).
• Articles deposited in institutional or disciplinary archives immediately after publication (Green OA).
• The costs of Open Access publication in “Gold OA” journals may be covered by the SNSF through publication cost subsidies (APC).

The SNSF does not reimburse the costs of Open Access publication in hybrid journals, even if authors have the right to follow this route.

The regulations concerning Open Access subsidies can be consulted here.

Open science is an approach based on open cooperative work and systematic sharing of knowledge and tools as early and widely as possible in the process. It has the potential to increase the quality and efficiency of research and accelerate the advancement of knowledge and innovation by sharing results, making them more reusable and improving their reproducibility. It entails the involvement of all relevant knowledge actors.

Horizon Europe moves beyond open access to open science for which it features a comprehensive policy implemented from the proposal stage to project reporting.

More information (Chapter 16)

Modern research builds on extensive scientific dialogue and advances by improving earlier work. The Europe 2020 strategy for a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy underlines the central role of knowledge and innovation in generating growth. Broader access to scientific publications and data therefore helps to build on previous research results, encourage collaboration and avoid duplication of effort, speed up innovation and involve citizens and society.

This is why the EU wants to improve access to scientific information and to boost the benefits of public investment in research funded under Horizon 2020.

The Commission considers that there should be no need to pay for information funded from the public purse each time it is accessed or used. Moreover, it should benefit European businesses and the public to the full. This means making publicly-funded scientific information available online, at no extra cost, to European researchers, innovative industries and the public, while ensuring that it is preserved in the long term.

Under Horizon 2020, the legal basis for open access is laid down in the Framework Programme and its Rules for Participation. You can find the Guidelines to the Rules on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Open Access to Research Data in Horizon 2020 here.