As of 2013 scientific publications based on projects, funded entirely or partially by the Icelandic Center for Research, Rannís, must be published in open access. This is to ensure that the public has access to results of publicly funded scientific projects in Iceland.

This mandate extends to all peer-reviewed articles. Projects that have received grants from Rannís prior to January 2013 are not subject to the requirement of open access publishing, even though Rannís encourages all researchers to publish in open access.

Rannís rules for OA are as follows:

Rannís encourages scientists to publish their works in journals that are fully released for public access, that is provides immediate OA to all their articles. If a decision is made to publish research findings in journals that are not open access, the Rannís OA mandate may be met by publishing in an open searchable, digital repositories along with the publication in a traditional subscription journal. The final manuscript after peer review shall be returned to the repository immediately after the article has been accepted for publication. This applies even if the journal demands a waiting period prior to OA, then the article will be opened automatically when the waiting period expires. Rannís allows an embargo period for up to 12 months after publishing in the journal.

Grantees can apply for the funding from Ranníspublishing fund, to cover a part of the publication cost.

Sólveig Þorsteinsdóttir
solveig@landspitali.is