Italy concludes first National Open Access deal for Biomedical Institutions

The first National Open Access Framework in Italy for Biomedical Institutions has today been signed by the Italian consortium of Biomedical Research Libraries – Bibliosan – and the leading open access publisher, Frontiers.

The agreement is fully aligned with international open access mandates, including Europe’s Plan S. The new framework agreement applies to 51 Scientific Institutions for Research, Hospitalization and Healthcare (IRCCS), ten Experimental Zooprophylactic Institutions (IZS) and five National Institutions, including the National Institute of Health (ISS), the Italian Medicine Agency (AIFA) and the Italian Ministry of Health. The agreement includes a discount on article processing charges (APCs), centralized, flexible invoicing, payment options, and dedicated support for library staff dealing with APCs. Its aim is to transform scholarly publishing, enabling a new era of open access for Italian biomedical research.

The Frontiers – Bibliosan Open Access Framework Agreement highlights the commitment of Italy’s research community to make research universally and freely accessible. The agreement will initially run for three years from January 2021.

Dr. Moreno Curti, Bibliosan coordinator, said: “Bibliosan’s first Open Access agreement with a pure OA publisher, Frontiers, is a major step towards making the results of publicly-funded research in Italy openly available by making it easier for biomedical researchers in Italy to publish their research in Frontiers’ fully open journals.”

Kamila Markram, CEO and co-founder of Frontiers, said: “The framework demonstrates the strength of Bibliosan’s commitment to open access and making publicly funded research openly available. All people, regardless of who or where they are, will now have access to some of the world’s leading biomedical research. Italy joins other consortia, including Austria, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Qatar and the UK, all of whom have committed to open-access framework agreements with Frontiers.”

The framework agreement is effective from 1 January 2021 and runs until December 2023. As part of the agreement, researchers affiliated with participating Bibliosan members will have full access to Frontiers’ open science tools and infrastructure, including its collaborative peer-review platform, article and author impact metrics, and enhanced dissemination tools such as Loop. Bibliosan and its members will also benefit from transparent and comprehensive expense reporting provided by Frontiers.

All submitted articles will remain subject to Frontiers’ editorial processes, policies and conditions including rigorous peer review, and all accepted articles will be published under an open license (CC-BY) that allows authors (or their institutions) to retain copyright.

The framework is exclusively reserved for the members of the Italian consortium of Biomedical Research Libraries – Bibliosan. As a result of ongoing interest from Italian universities in having similar arrangements, Frontiers will, in 2021, explore the possibilities of having a similar arrangement in place for Italian universities.

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Notes to editors:

For more information, contact: Ronald Buitenhuis, Head of Publishing Solutions, Frontiers (

[email protected]

) or Eva Guiducci, Institutional Memberships Specialist – Italy, Frontiers (

[email protected]

)

For Frontiers media enquiries, please contact:

[email protected]

For more information, contact: Dr. Moreno Curti, IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo PAVIA, Coordinator Bibliosan (

[email protected]

)

Full list of participating institutions:

• Biblioteca AGENAS, Agenzia Servizi Sanitari Regionali – Roma
• Biblioteca INAIL, Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro (ex-ISPELS) – Roma
• Biblioteca IRCCS Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova – Reggio Emila
• Biblioteca IRCCS Associazione Oasi Maria SS. – Troina (Enna)
• Biblioteca IRCCS Centro Cardiologico Monzino – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Centro di Riferimento Oncologico di
• Basilicata (CROB) di Rionero in Vulture – Potenza
• Biblioteca IRCCS Centro di Riferimento Oncologico Istituto Nazionale Tumori – Aviano (Pordenone)
• Biblioteca IRCCS Centro Neurolesi “Bonino Pulejo” – Messina
• Biblioteca IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio, Fatebenefratelli – Brescia
• Biblioteca IRCCS Ente Ospedaliero Specializzato in Gastroenterologia “Saverio de Bellis” – Castellana Grotte (Bari)
• Biblioteca IRCCS Fondazione “Istituto Neurologico Casimiro Mondino” – Pavia
• Biblioteca IRCCS Fondazione Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza – San Giovanni Rotondo (Foggia)
• Biblioteca IRCCS Fondazione Centro San Raffaele del Monte Tabor – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Fondazione G.B. Bietti – Roma
• Biblioteca IRCCS Fondazione Istituto Auxologico Italiano – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A.Gemelli – Roma
• Biblioteca IRCCS Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri, Clinica del Lavoro e della Riabilitazione – Pavia
• Biblioteca IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia – Roma
• Biblioteca IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris – Calambrone (Pisa)
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto “Eugenio Medea”, Associazione “La Nostra Famiglia” – Bosisio Parini (Lecco)
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto “Giannina Gaslini” – Genova
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Clinico Humanitas – Rozzano (Milano)
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche – Bologna
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata (IDI) – Roma
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto di Candiolo, Fondazione del Piemonte per l’Oncologia – Torino
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Europeo di Oncologia – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Mediterraneo per i Trapianti e Terapie ad Alta Specializzazione (ISMETT) – Palermo
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Nazionale di Riposo e Cura per Anziani V.E. II – Ancona
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Neurologico “Carlo Besta” – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Nazionale per le Malattie Infettive Lazzaro Spallanzani – Roma
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori “Fondazione Giovanni Pascale” – Napoli
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed – Pozzilli (Isernia)
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Oncologico Veneto – Padova
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Regina Elena per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori – Roma
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto S.Maria e S.Gallicano – Roma
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori – Meldola (Forlì Cesena)
• Biblioteca IRCCS Istituto Tumori “Giovanni Paolo II” – Bari
• Biblioteca IRCCS materno infantile “Burlo Garofolo” – Trieste
• Biblioteca IRCCS Multimedica Holding Spa – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù – Roma
• Biblioteca IRCCS Ospedale San Camillo – Venezia
• Biblioteca IRCCS per l’Oncologia Ospedale Policlinico San Martino – Genova
• Biblioteca IRCCS Policlinico San Donato – Milano
• Biblioteca IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo – Pavia
• Biblioteca IRCCS Sacro Cuore – Don Calabria – Negrar (Verona)
• Biblioteca IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana – Roma
• Biblioteca IRCCS SDN – Napoli
• Biblioteca Istituto Superiore di Sanità – Roma
• Biblioteca Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana – Roma
• Biblioteca Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno – Portici (Napoli)
• Biblioteca Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta – Torino
• Biblioteca Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise – Campo Boario (Teramo)
• Biblioteca Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche – Perugia
• Biblioteca Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell’Emilia – Brescia
• Biblioteca Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata – Foggia
• Biblioteca Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sardegna – Sassari
• Biblioteca Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia – Palermo
• Biblioteca Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie – Padova
• Biblioteche IRCCS Istituti Ortopedici Rizzoli – Bologna
  Ministero della Salute
• Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco (AIFA) – Roma

About Bibliosan

BiblioSan was founded in 2003. Funded and supervised by the Italian Ministry of Health., it comprises all central libraries of the Italian Biomedical Institutions. The ultimate aim of BiblioSan is to foster a cooperative and operative network amongst all concerned, enabling more qualitative research by integrating and rationalizing all owned information resources.

Since 2003, BiblioSan has expanded its network through the involvement of more health institutions and more editors who are now working with the Italian Consortium. All information is shared and available to each and every researcher pertaining to each institution. For more information, visit

http://www.

bibliosan.

it/

about.

html

About Frontiers

Frontiers is an award-winning Open Science platform and leading Open Access scholarly publisher. Our mission is to make research results openly available to the world, thereby accelerating scientific and technological innovation, societal progress and economic growth. We empower scientists with innovative Open Science solutions that radically improve how science is published, evaluated and disseminated to researchers, innovators and the public. Access to research results and data is open, free and customized through Internet Technology, thereby enabling rapid solutions to the critical challenges we face as humanity. For more information, visit

http://www.

frontiersin.

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