Open Access policy

In April 2019, Independent Research Fund Denmark, Danish National Research Foundation, and Innovation Fund Denmark adopted a joint Open Access policy. The Open Access policy aims to enhance the impact of research by ensuring unrestricted and cost-free digital access for everyone to publicly funded research findings.

To fulfil and support the realisation of the strengthened national objectives and requirements for Open Access, Denmark’s public research funding bodies revised their joint policy in 2019. The funds will continuously monitor and stimulate the implementation of the national Open Access strategy, including by imposing requirements on grant holders in relation to Open Access.

Open Access ensures free and unrestricted access to research findings in the form of publications in journals and conference proceedings. Open Access thus provides society with access to, insight into, and opportunities to utilise research results. The Open Access policy applies to grant holders of Independent Research Fund Denmark.

What the policy means for grant holders of Independent Research Fund Denmark

With the revised policy, the funds aim to further promote Open Access as the standard for scientific publications through Green Open Access. The objective is that all scientific articles that have undergone quality assurance and peer review and have been published in a scientific journal should be readable and distributable without financial, technical, or legal restrictions.

Under the policy, published scientific articles resulting from full or partial funding by the funds must be made freely available to all through Open Access, provided that the journal permits it.

Through this policy, the funds also seek to strengthen researchers’ position regarding copyright ownership of their own articles in relation to scientific publishing.

Furthermore, the funds endorse the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities.