Ensuring high-quality, transparent, open, trustworthy and equitable scholarly publishing

LEUVEN, 3 May 2023

The leading universities of Science and Technology (S&T) united within CESAER today publish a position on ‘Ensuring high-quality, transparent, open, trustworthy and equitable scholarly publishing’.

Stefan Bengtsson (CESAER Envoy to the Swedish Presidency & President of Chalmers University of Technology) said:

“We welcome the focus at the European level to accelerate the transition to open science. The efforts by the Swedish Presidency towards ensuring an open and equitable scholarly publishing system are particularly welcome, and we provide our full support for ministers to adopt bold and ambitious conclusions at their Competitiveness Council.”

The position provide five key recommendations:

1. Enshrine a secondary publishing right at the European level to empower researchers;
2. Ensure sustainability of S&T infrastructures underpinning open science;
3. Safeguard reasonable costs and equity in scholarly publishing;
4. Tackle challenge of generative AI and the rise of synthetic texts and images;
5. Assume leadership of global efforts to advance open science.

Simone Rehm (Co-Chair of Task Force Openness of S&T and Vice-Rector at the University of Stuttgart) said:

“We have a real opportunity to take open science in Europe and beyond to the next level. To seize this opportunity, the key lever is to empower researchers and the scientific community. This should include enshrining a legal right for researchers at the EU level, and ensuring sustainability of vital S&T infrastructures.”

Rik Van de Walle (President of CESAER and Rector of Ghent University) said:

“Open science is an enabler to unlock the full potential and impact of the scientific endeavour to tackle local and global challenges. Open, equitable scholarly publishing supported by sustainable open infrastructures is key to disseminate reliable research results. Europe is a key player here, so let us assume leadership to bolster global efforts advancing open science.”

Position

• Full position (PDF) available for distribution

Contact

For more information, please contact Mattias Björnmalm (Secretary General).