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Press Release from the university of Liege
http://www.ulg.ac.be/relationsexterieures/RecteursOA/
(Thanks to Alma Swan for forwarding the Press Release from Rector Bernard
Rentier)
On Thursday, October 18, the Rector of the University of Liege hosted the
Rectors of the Universities of Trieste and Rome 2, Roma 3, Polytechnic of
Catalonia in Barcelona, Vicenza, Porto, from Salford, Lancaster, Rotterdam
(U. Erasmus), Turin, Antwerp, Ghent and Southampton, as well as the chairmen
or directors of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the Instituto Superiore di
Sanita, Caspur Consortium, the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and a
representative of the European Commission .
The purpose of the meeting was to establish the foundations of a European
movement for Open Access to scientific and scholarly publications:
EurOpenScholarship.
The Rector of U, Liege has been involved in the movement to free research
publications from the financial straitjacket imposed on universities and
research centers by the large publishers. Since 1993, while the price index
rose by about 30%, journal prices have risen to more than 275%, making it
impossible for a normally funded institution to access all the literature
essential for conducting good research.
Despite the Berlin Declaration in 2003 and the European Petition of 2007,
few universities have actually implemented a vigorous open access policy.
That is why the Chancellor of U. Liege wanted to gather in Liege the senior
leadership of the European universities that are the most advanced in this
respect and to launch an initiative that provides a practical follow-up to
the declaration already signed by so many research institutions.
The meeting resulted in the creation of the EurOpenScholarship whose goal
will be to continue efforts by informing the European university communities
about the opportunities available to researchers today for providing open
access, as well as to establish, in the universities and research centers
in Europe, a central institutional repository (in Liege, "DIGITHEQUE"),
allowing publications to be deposited and, wherever possible, made openly
accessible to all.
The University of Liege, which signed a massive OA petition in 2007 (the
highest number of signatures from a single university) is positioning itself
as a pioneer and clearly much of this is now considered the way of the
future for scientific publication. The ambition is to spread this message
across Europe.
Ce jeudi 18 octobre, le Recteur recevait � l?ULg les recteurs des
universit�s de Trieste, de Rome 2, de Rome 3, Polytechnique de Catalogne �
Barcelone, de Trente, de Porto, de Salford, de Lancaster, de Rotterdam (U.
Erasmus), de Turin, d?Anvers, de Gand et de Southampton, ainsi que les
pr�sidents ou directeurs du Paul Ehrlich Institut, de l?Instituto Superiore
di Sanita, du Caspur Consortium, du Rutherford Appleton Laboratory et une
repr�sentante de la Commission Europ�enne.
L?objectif de la rencontre �tait d?�tablir les bases d?un mouvement europ�en
en faveur de l?acc�s libre (Open Access) aux publications scientifiques.
On conna�t l?implication de notre Recteur dans ce mouvement qui vise �
lib�rer la publication des travaux de recherche du carcan financier impos�
aux universit�s et centres de recherche par les plus grandes maisons
d?�dition. Depuis 1993, alors que l?indice des prix a augment� de 30 %
environ, les publications p�riodiques ont grimp� � plus de 275 %, ce qui,
dans une institution normalement financ�e, rend impossible l?acc�s �
l?ensemble de la litt�rature indispensable � une bonne recherche.
Suite � la D�claration de Berlin de 2003 et � la P�tition europ�enne de
2007, peu d?universit�s ont mis en application une politique r�solue en
mati�re d?acc�s libre. C?est pourquoi le Recteur a voulu rassembler � Li�ge
les autorit�s dirigeantes des universit�s europ�ennes les plus avanc�es �
cet �gard et lancer une initiative qui assure un suivi � cette prise de
position pourtant sign�e par de tr�s nombreuses institutions de recherche.
Cette r�union a abouti � la cr�ation de l?EurOpenScholarship dont le but
sera de poursuivre l?action par l?information des possibilit�s offertes
aujourd?hui aux chercheurs et l?�tablissement, dans les universit�s et
centres de recherche europ�ens, d?un d�p�t �lectronique institutionnel (�
Li�ge, la � DIGITHEQUE �) permettant l?archivage des publications, leur
diss�mination et, chaque fois que c?est possible, leur mise en acc�s libre �
tous.
Notre institution, qui a sign� massivement la p�tition de 2007 (le plus
grand nombre de signatures pour une seule universit�) se positionne ainsi
clairement en pionnier de ce beaucoup consid�rent aujourd?hui comme la voie
du futur pour la publication scientifique. Son ambition est de faire �cole �
travers l?Europe.
Received on Sat Oct 20 2007 - 12:36:23 BST