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Making publications freely accessible (Taverne)

In 2015, Section 25fa was added to the Copyright Act. Under this section of the act, a short scientific work – which has not previously been published open access – can after some time nonetheless be made freely accessible by the author.

The University Library helps University of Amsterdam (UvA) authors wishing to invoke this right and implements it on their behalf.

So how does it work?

By filling in the online licence agreement Taverne, you will give the University Library permission, pursuant to Section 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, to make the publisher's PDF of your short scientific works – ones which have already been published or have yet to be published at the UvA – available to the public at the end of a six-month embargo after online publication in the university repository UvA-DARE.

After permission has been granted, the University Library checks Pure to determine which of your publications can be made freely accessible within the scope of this section of the law. When executing – retrospectively from 2015 onwards -  the Library depends on the publishers PDF available (added to the record by you when registering) in Pure.

If you have any questions for which you cannot find an answer in the notes and the frequently asked questions, please direct them to openaccess@uva.nl.

Notes to Section 25fa of the Copyright Act (Taverne Amendment)

The full text of Section 25fa of the Copyright Act reads as follows:

‘The maker of a short scientific work, the research for which has been paid for in whole or in part by Dutch public funds, shall be entitled to make that work available to the public for no consideration following a reasonable period of time after the work was first published, provided that clear reference is made to the source of the first publication of the work.’

Joost Taverne was the submitter of the legislative proposal in the Dutch House of Representatives, which is why it is also known as the ‘Taverne Amendment’. Copyright (contract) law within the Dutch Copyright Act is mandatory law, it takes precedence over contract law; an agreement with a (foreign) publisher does not prevent the use of the provisions in this section of the law. The right cannot be waived and it is not transferable.

The right cannot be relinquished, nor is it transferable; a contract with a Dutch or foreign publisher does not preclude the ability to take advantage of the provisions of this section of the law.

Basic principles*

Only scientific journal articles, conference contributions, annotations and book chapters in edited collections are considered ‘short scientific works’.

The result of research carried out in the course of employment at the UvA is considered to have been funded with Dutch public funds regardless of whether it was partly financed by another party such as the European Union.

Six months after online publication is regarded as a reasonable period of time (regardless of the field) and the final version of the work as published by the publisher, the publisher's PDF, i.e. the Version of Record (VoR), is shared.

* Restatement of the section of the law in concrete basic principles by National Plan Open Science (NPOS), assessed in 2019 during the national pilot project You share, we take care! in which the UvA also participated.

Frequently asked questions