Sharing and preserving your scientific work - Open Access

The University’s open access policy was updated by the Academic Council of 9 July 2018, in order to take into account the provisions of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Decree on the establishment of a policy of open access to scientific publications (‘Décret visant à l’établissement d’une politique de libre accès aux publications scientifiques (Open Access)’), which came into effect at the beginning of the 2018–2019 academic year, i.e. on 14 September 2018.

Your responsibilities: Rules governing open access to scientific publications by ULB researchers.

Any researcher who has a contractual or statutory link with the University is required:

• to input the references of all their publications into DI-fusion, in order to create their official list of publications at ULB;
• to upload the full text of their scientific publications to DI-fusion for archiving purposes, immediately upon acceptance for publication;
• to make the full text of their publications available to the public in open access, immediately or after a period prescribed by the publisher, it being understood that for any publication released from 14 September 2018 onwards in a periodical published at least once a year, and which is the result of a research during which the author was affiliated with the ULB or with another higher education institution of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, this period may not exceed 6 months after publication for science, technology, and medicine, or 12 months for social sciences and humanities.

Impact on applications

The list of publications produced by DI-fusion is the only one for ULB researchers that is officially recognised by the French Community of Belgium. Therefore, only this list may be submitted with any application form (e.g. for credits, promotions, etc.). Regarding articles published in a periodical from 14 September 2018 onwards, only those whose full text is uploaded and accessible in accordance with the rules specified above will be considered when assessing applications for appointments, promotions, or credits.

Your rights

Belgian law entitles you to RETAIN the right to:
grant open access to the manuscript* of your scientific articles published in a periodical, after a period of

• 12 months after their publication for human and social sciences
• 6 months for other scientific disciplines,

regardless of the contract signed with the publisher

• for any article stemming from research that has received at least half of its funding from public sources
• including articles published before the relevant law came into effect (15 September 2018)

This is an imperative right; it applies regardless of the law under which the contract was signed, provided that there is a connecting factor located in Belgium. (Code of Economic Law, Book XI, article XI.196 §2.1)

_{*The notion of "manuscript" also covers a digital version of the article. The version that can be made available to the public in open access is the "postprint" version, i.e. the final version submitted by the author, after peer review, as accepted for publication. (Opinion of the Belgian Intellectual Property Office, transmitted to Minister Glatigny, July 2022).}

The requirement to upload and grant open access applies to all your articles and contributions to conferences, seminars, and symposia (including posters) that have been published in a peer-reviewed journal since 2008. The maximum time limits for open access (embargo periods) are the same as those laid down in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation decree (6 months for science, technology, and medicine, and 12 months for human and social sciences).

• Regulations on the application of the open access policy at FNRS
• FAQ on Open Access at FNRS

The Wallonia-Brussels has voted a "Federation Decree on the establishment of a policy of open access to scientific publications" (‘Décret visant à l’établissement d’une politique de libre accès aux publications scientifiques (Open Access)’), which came into effect at the beginning of the 2018–2019 academic year, i.e. on 14 September 2018. This means that all publicly-funded researchers must deposit the full text of their publications in an institutional archive. The Decree has been implemented in the ULB Institutional policy on Open Access to publications.

This decree is based on the principle that disseminating the results of research funded by public subsidies not only enables the free flow of knowledge, therefore fostering innovation, but it also increases the visibility of researchers as well as the accessibility and impact of their work. This puts the Wallonia-Brussels Federation’s open access policy in line with those of other funding bodies like the F.R.S.-FNRS and the European Commission.

Within the Horizon 2020 and the Horizon Europe funding programs, scientific articles published by EU-funded projects have to be freely accessible for all.

It is mandatory to upload and grant open access to all peer-reviewed publications in open access in an open archive. This is DI-fusion at ULB.

• Guidelines on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Research Data in Horizon 2020
• FAQ
• Horizon Europe