Finland goes nationally Open Access -> NATIONAL OPEN ACCESS AGREEMENT FOR FINLAND

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                      Arne Jakobsson                                                                                                    
                      <p.a.jakobsson@UB                                                                                                 
                      .UIO.NO>                                                                                                          
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                      Discussion List   Thema:  NATIONAL OPEN ACCESS AGREEMENT FOR FINLAND                                              
                      <EAHIL-L@LISTSERV                                                                                                 
                      .KIB.KI.SE>                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                        
                      12.05.2004 09:42                                                                                                  
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                      an Arne Jakobsson                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                        



NATIONAL OPEN ACCESS AGREEMENT FOR FINLAND
Finland is the first country to make a nationwide commitment to Open
Access, it was announced today. All universities, polytechnics and research
institutes in Finland have become BioMed Central members. The membership
agreement covers the cost of publication, in BioMed Centrals 100+ Open
Access journals, for all 25000 publicly funded researchers and teachers in
Finland.

BioMed Central agreed the membership with FinELib, the National Electronic
Library of Finland. A consortium of universities, polytechnics, research
institutes and regional libraries, FinELib is part of the National Librarys
services for libraries. FinELib acquires Finnish and international
resources to support teaching, learning and research. 86 institutions from
the consortium will take part in the membership deal, adding 80 new
institutions to BioMed Centrals membership program.

Kristiina Hormia-Poutanen, Head, National Electronic Library Services,
explained why the National Electronic Library took the decision,
The aim of FinELib is to promote access to information. Open access is an
important movement to improve access to information all over the world.
Open access enables the most effective distribution of research results and
can have significant impact to the Finnish innovation system.

FinElib is also interested in the developments in new business models which
are evolving.

Finlands decision represents a landmark in the move towards Open Access for
all biomedical research. BioMed Central, the largest Open Access publisher,
has seen their membership program go from strength to strength. Over 300
institutions worldwide became members in 2003. These included the NHS in
England and all UK universities, all institutions in Ohio, USA, 18
institutions in Australia, and the Max Planck Society. BioMed Central now
has 500 member institutions in 39 countries.


Arne Jakobsson
University of Oslo Library
Library of Medicine and Health Sciences
Postboks 1113, Blindern
N-0317 Norway
Phone +47 23 07 44 34
Fax +47 23 07 44 30
E-mail: p.a.jakobsson@xxxxxxxxx