Ministry of Education and Culture: Open science must be promoted by all means necessary

The Ministry of Education and Culture has outlined that Finland will become one of the leading countries in open science and research by 2017. The objective is to have open access to all scientific publications by 2020.

Finland is committed to the EU’s open research and innovation activity principles as well as to the common goals set by the EU for its member states for the open access to all scientific publications by 2020. The realisation of these goals requires immediate and concrete actions to change the current operating culture.

Finland is conducting national negotiations with the biggest international scientific publishers on the contracts for scientific journal materials. It is vital that these negotiations find a solution that is financially sustainable for the scientific community. The contracts that are to be signed must significantly increase the opportunity for Finnish researchers to publish openly. Open science is the starting point for our national contract negotiations. Finland requires that all parties implement solutions that will make open publishing commonplace for all researchers.

Finnish research organisations are required to pay millions of euros annually to large international publishers. According to a survey published in summer 2016, subscription fees in Finland for scientific publications have risen by around ten per cent per year between 2010-2015. In the future, this cost level must be reduced. In addition, the business models of publishers must be renewed to take into account the increasingly common demand for openness.

Further information:
- Sami Niinimäki, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Education and Culture, tel. +358 (0)295 3 30303
- Kristiina Hormia-Poutanen, Director, National Library Network Services, National Library of Finland, tel.+358 50 5523 056

Further information on the FinELib consortium and the contract negotiations:

Transparency and openness to scientific publishing: the Finnish research organisations pay millions of euros annually to the large publishers

Finnish researchers have started a petition to support open publication. Currently, the petition has over 2500 signatures.