Starting in 2022, science in Portugal will shift its paradigm thanks to the entry into force of contracts signed by the Online Knowledge Library (b-on) with publishers for the 2022-2024 triennium. This shift will give shape to the international Open Access movement in Portugal.
The first 3 of 12 agreements recently came into force and include the possibility of publishing around 2,000 articles in open access, still in 2022.
Following the principles of Open Access, these contracts allow, in addition to the ability to read the articles made available, to give linked authors the right to b-on member institutions, the possibility of publishing their articles in open access in some of the journals available on b-on.
Open access publishing makes the article immediately accessible to anyone, anywhere, at no cost to the accessor. It also allows third parties to reuse the article, thus fostering the growth of global knowledge. Furthermore, open access publishing, permitted by the agreements signed, exempts the author from paying any publishing fees, as this is covered by the annual price paid by the FCT to publishers.
In the opinion of Madalena Alves, President of the FCT Board of Directors, "Portugal, by principle and size, should support the goals of open science. To this end, it must provide researchers with the means to easily adopt this paradigm shift."
He adds that "with this renegotiation, the FCT offers researchers and university students in Portugal the possibility of, in addition to accessing a broad range of articles, publishing their science in open access format at no additional cost. This is a central element of the FCT's open science policy, along with the creation of open-access repositories for all the science generated by the national scientific ecosystem, which the FCT has so passionately invested in. There is still much to be done, but I have no doubt that we are heading in the right direction."
More information on the website b-on.
