New recommendations for Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) 20th anniversary

[BOAI Anniversary‏]

The Budapest Open Access Initiative, the first international open access declaration, marked its 20th anniversary on 14 February 2022. To celebrate this milestone the BOAI steering committee has released new recommendations for the next 10 years based on community input. Four new recommendations are highlighted:

1. Host OA research on open infrastructure. Host and publish OA texts, data, metadata, code, and other digital research outputs on open, community-controlled infrastructure. Use infrastructure that minimizes the risk of future access restrictions or control by commercial organizations. Where open infrastructure is not yet adequate for current needs, develop it further.

2. Reform research assessment and rewards to improve incentives. Adjust research assessment practices for funding decisions and university hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions. Eliminate disincentives for OA and create positive new incentives for OA. 

   

3. Favor inclusive publishing and distribution channels that never exclude authors on economic grounds. Take full advantage of OA repositories and no-APC journals (“green” and “diamond” OA). Move away from article processing charges (APCs). 

 

4. When we spend money to publish OA research, remember the goals to which OA is the means. Favor models which benefit all regions of the world, which are controlled by academic-led and nonprofit organizations, which avoid concentrating new OA literature in commercially dominant journals, and which avoid entrenching models in conflict with these goals. Move away from read-and-publish agreements. 

Please read and share the full BOAI 20th anniversary recommendations with your colleagues. Follow @TheBOAI for updates, participate in the conversation using the #BOAI20 hashtag, and join the BOAI 20th anniversary webcast on March 31.