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Billede af forskellige publikationer udgivet af Nordisk Ministerråd

Billede af forskellige publikationer udgivet af Nordisk Ministerråd

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norden.org
The Nordic Council of Ministers’ publications present the results of Nordic co-operation at various levels. The publications consist of research-based reports and policy programmes, framework programmes, action plans, annual reports and budgets, as well as individual debate publications, statistics, and interesting publications about the Nordic Region in general. The Nordic Council of Ministers publishes around 200 publications per year.

All publications funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers are available to download for free under the Open Access principle. Open Access means that there is free and unrestricted digital access to publications. 

Through its projects and institutions, the Nordic Council of Ministers is committed to the development of knowledge on a broad front. Open Access enables us to open up the wealth of knowledge we produce to all, and thus provide a stronger foundation for further innovation both within and beyond the context of Nordic co-operation.

Dagfinn Høybråten, former Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers

The Nordic Council of Ministers’ Open Access mandate does not change the copyright to the publications covered by the mandate. The Nordic Council of Ministers continues to have full copyright to all its publications. 

Nordic Council of Ministers’ Open Access mandate

1.1 Introduction

The Nordic Council of Ministers is a publicly funded organisation for co-operation between the governments of the Nordic countries (www.norden.org). For this reason, all written publications published or funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers must be made publicly available by way of Open Access publication so that they can be used freely in the Nordic Region and worldwide. Open Access means that the publications are available free of charge in electronic format on the internet, with minimal restrictions on their use.

Copyright licences that encourage the distribution, use, and replication of publications from the Nordic Council of Ministers are strongly recommended. A condition of such a licence is that the original publication must always be cited. A suitable licence that meets this condition is a Creative Commons Licence with attribution (CC-BY).  

As a first step, the Nordic Council of Ministers introduced an Open Access mandate applicable to all written publications published by the Nordic Council of Ministers on or after 1 June 2014. The mandate and its effectiveness are evaluated annually by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The next step which was implemented later in 2014 further extended the Open Access mandate to apply to all written publications partly or fully funded by grants from the Nordic Council of Ministers, or under contract with the Nordic Council of Ministers.
 

1.2 Mandate

All written publications published by the Nordic Council of Ministers shall be made available in electronic format through Open Access upon their publication (immediate Open Access). This means that all such publications must be uploaded to the Nordic Council of Ministers’ publication platform, in full text format, and with the required descriptive information (metadata). The Nordic Council of Ministers’ publication platform (http://norden.diva-portal.org) is managed and maintained by Uppsala University Library. The unit at the Nordic Council of Ministers that uploads a publication to the platform is responsible for ensuring that it is complete and of good quality. It is strongly recommended that the publications meet the accessibility criteria for people with a visual impairment or reading difficulties.

It is recommended that all written publications published by the Nordic Council of Ministers are done so using a Creative Commons licence, preferably CC-BY or CC-BY SA. The definitions are available at www.creativecommons.org. The right to upload all written publications published by the Nordic Council of Ministers on the Nordic Council of Ministers’ publication platform must always be retained, even when such publications are to be published by external publishers as well. If the publication is to be published by an external publisher as well (such as in book format or in a scientific journal), the appropriate reference to the publication must be recorded in the Nordic Council of Ministers’ publication platform.

Copenhagen, 29 January 2014 
Dagfinn Høybråten, former Secretary General

Interview with former Secretary General Dagfinn Høybråten on Open Access

NordPub publication platform

Creative Commons

Why Open Access?

There are several reasons for choosing an Open Access publication policy For the Nordic Council of Ministers, the following four reasons in particular have been decisive:

1. The Nordic Council of Ministers is a tax-funded institution, and the results published by the Nordic Council of Ministers should be publicly available at no additional cost to taxpayers.

2. Open Access promotes the fundamental Nordic values of democracy, equality, and transparency.

3. Open Access increases accessibility to the Nordic Council of Ministers’ publications. For example, those with reading difficulties or a visual impairment can enjoy better access to these publications as Open Access files are not protected by DRM – software which can adversely affect machine reading.

4. Open Access allows for considerably more distribution opportunities, which increases the visibility and reach of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ publications.
 

NordPub publication platform

The Nordic Council of Ministers’ publication platform is called NordPub. Users can download publications from NordPub for free, as well as order the publication in all the formats in which it is available. Most publications are available as PDF, ONLINE, or EPUB files, and some are available in print. 

The publication platform contains publications from the Secretariat to the Nordic Council of Ministers, NordForsk, Nordic Innovation, Nordic Energy Research, Nordicom, the Nordic School of Public Health, Nordregio, the Nordic Welfare Centre, and several other Nordic institutions.

The publication platform is located on the DiVA platform. DiVA is a consortium of 35 universities and institutions (primarily in Sweden). It is maintained by Uppsala University Library, which is responsible for updates and the long-term development of the project.

– Visit NordPub here: www.norden.org/nordpub

Our formats and distribution channels

Publications are always made available PDF format. In addition, from January 2020 a considerable number of the publications will be published as responsive online publications suitable for reading on mobile phones and tablets. 

In addition, the publications are activated in Crossref. 

CrossMark is a multi-publisher initiative that provides a standardised way for readers to find the current version of content. By using the CrossMark logo, the publisher name undertakes to update its published content, and inform readers about changes if and when these updates occur. When you click on the CrossMark logo, the document’s current status and any other publication information regarding the document are displayed.”

More about Crossref

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