The way to Open Access : French strategies to move forward
Library and Information Service, 50 (1):
27--33 (2006)Abstract
In France, the movement in favour of open access to scientific research output is getting increasingly coordinated and supported at the political level. The CNRS, leading research organization in Europe and signatory of the Berlin Declaration, has an evident strategic role to play in this development. Various initiatives that have emerged in the French academic world in recent years have led, for example, in early 2005 to the joint announcement, by four major research institutions, of a common policy to promote open access to published material and other types of digital resources, and to set up institutional archives. The article highlights some key issues of this policy, gives an overview of the current and past CNRS involvement in Open Access and describes the principal functions, as well as the related challenges, of the future institutional repositories.