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Frequently Asked Questions

Tilburg University embraces Open Access publishing of scholarly articles. Unfortunately, not every scientific journal offers this option as a standard. In the event that an article is initially published closed, we will make it publicly available after six months of embargo on the basis of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, also known as the 'Taverne' provision. We answer the most frequently asked questions about this scheme here.

  1. Why does Tilburg University use a procedure to apply Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act?
    As a researcher, you are entitled to invoke this Article of the Dutch Copyright Act (DCA) to share your short academic publications via open access after six months. Intending to be a good employer, Tilburg University wants to facilitate its researchers in exercising this right. The procedure allows for this with your tacit approval, without you having to undertake any actions. By sharing your work through open access via our institutional research portal, your work will be available to everyone sooner, and the attention for your work and its impact will increase. Finally, you will contribute to the Dutch universities’ joint objective to share all short academic publications via open access. Should you not want to use this right, you can opt out.
     
  2. How can I opt out?
    Article 25fa of the DCA is a right granted by Dutch legislature, which Tilburg University facilitates by means of the Art. 25fa Procedural Regulations on the basis of tacit consent. Open access publishing of Dutch government funded research is an implementation of Dutch government policy and the policy of Dutch universities gathered in the UNL. The employer may give reasonable directions concerning copyrights. If you want to exempt your work from applying Article 25fa of the DCA, you must follow the opt-out procedure. The Library may contact you for a further explanation of your request. All cases not covered by the Procedural Regulations shall be settled by the Executive Board, weighing the interests of all parties involved. You can opt out via this form.
     
  3. Which version of my work will be made public?
    It will be the final publisher’s version, also called the version of record. It is the version that has been made public. The Tilburg University Library aims to include and archive this version in the institutional repository. For the researcher, this simplifies sharing the work without the additional administrative hassle. Only in exceptional cases may the University Library ask you to submit a PDF version of your work.
     
  4. What conditions should my work meet?
    - It must be a concise academic work having the length of an academic article or a chapter in an edited collection.
    - The work must be funded wholly or in part by the Dutch government.
    - The creator must be working for Tilburg University in the field of research. The scheme applies to current and former employees, but also to persons who perform (research) work for TiU on the basis of a hospitality agreement, a facilities agreement, a professor's agreement, a secondment agreement and a contract for services.
     
  5. Can my work be shared even if the publisher has insisted on an embargo period of more than six months?
    Yes. the Dutch Copyright Act is legislation and therefore takes precedence over contract law.
     
  6. What happens after I leave Tilburg University?
    The work you published during your affiliation with Tilburg University remain in the Research Portal and thus publicly accessible.
     
  7. Where can I go if my publisher has questions?
    If your publisher approaches you with questions or a request to remove access to your article from the Research Portal, please contact the University Library. Tilburg University, together with its national partners, will determine which steps should be taken and respond to the publisher concerned. The university will also take legal action if necessary and will take care of any legal procedure. You do not have to do that yourself. This guarantee also applies after your affiliation with Tilburg University has ended.
     
  8. Why was a period of six months chosen, instead of zero or twelve months?
    Six months offer a balance between the public interest in sharing academic work fast and the publisher’s interest in earning back their investment through their exclusive rights to the final publication. This embargo period is already the publishing or subsidy standard in many fields. In all fields, six months is chosen because of the increasing interdisciplinarity of research and the interests of all academic disciplines for current societal questions.
     
  9. Why are the requirements of Plan S not included in the implementation of Article 25fa of the DCA
    The text of Article 25fa of the DCA has a different purpose in terms of its design and content. It supports the Dutch ambition of having all publications shared openly and identifies aspects such as “the right to share” (instead of maintaining copyrights and encouraging reuse through a CC BY license) and sharing after a reasonable period (instead of demanding a zero-month embargo). As such, the requirements of Plan S cannot serve as a starting point.
     
  10. Does the implementation of Article 25fa of the DCA still have added value after the launch of Plan S?
    Yes! The majority of the publications to which Dutch universities contribute are not covered by Plan S. That is why Article 25fa of the DCA is an essential tool to achieve the Dutch government’s 100% open access target.
     
  11. Are the publishers aware of the implementation?
    The publishers that have a contract with the UNL were informed in a letter in 2019. The Dutch Media for Subject-specific Information and Science sector association (Media voor Vak en Wetenschap, MVW) has also been informed. This means that the majority of academic publishers have been informed.
     
  12. Will all universities implement this?
    The associated Universities in the Netherlands (UNL) decided to give open access an additional impulse by enabling researchers to make publications available after a period of six months via their university repositories by applying Article 25fa CA (Taverne Amendment to the Copyright Act). All Dutch universities offer the Taverne option to share scholarly publications.