National Open Access Desk

Belgium recognized in an early stage the importance of Open Access. Many Belgian research organisations subscribed to the Berlin Declaration on Open Access in 2007, at a conference organised by DRIVER. This ambition was affirmed by the Brussels Declaration on Open Access, signed in 2012 by the Belgian, Flemish and French Community ministers of research. The declaration makes Open Access the default in circulating the results of Belgian academic and scientific research.

The creation of the Immediate Deposit and Optional Access mandate (ID/OA) at Université de Liège (ULg) in 2007 paved the way for Belgian OA mandates. OA policies were developed by more than 15 Belgian research organisations. Consequently, Belgium now has a vast network of, mostly institutional, open access repositories.

An overview of the Belgian research landscape can be found in the RIO country report for Belgium, what follows is a concise overview.

Within the EU, Belgium has a strong reputation for R&D and innovation, primarily due to the high quality of its education and research facilities. There are two separate university systems in Belgium:

• six French-speaking universities (including two in Brussels) and 21 university colleges (‘hautes écoles’),
• six universities and 22 university colleges (“hogescholen”) in Flanders (see the full list of universities).

Additionally, there are several subject-based research institutions. The larger strategic research centres in Flanders are often participating in EU and other international projects and are significant actors in the ERA (e.g. IMEC, VITO, VIB), as is the Walloon Space research pole (Liège) or the biomedical pole (Brussels-Charleroi).

The governance of the Belgian research system reflects the federal structure of the country, which consists of a federal, Belgian, government and a Flemish and French Community government. It is important to note that there is no overarching national research council in Belgium. The three main governmental funders are BELSPO (federal), FRS-FNRS (French Community) and FWO (Flanders). All three have Open Access policies in place.

• The Federal Science Policy office (BELSPO) coordinates science policy at the federal level as well as on an international level. The federal government also coordinates some research of national interest such as defence, space and polar research. In the coming years, the federal research programmes will be revised. The revision will take into account the organisational changes of the federal science policy.
• The Flemish R&D system is governed by the Department of Economy, Science and Innovation (EWI). EWI prepares, monitors and evaluates policy in the Economy, Science and Innovation policy area. Their main goal is to develop Flanders into one of the most advanced and prosperous regions in the world.
• Two key agencies for STI policy are the innovation agency VLAIO and the main funding channel for research at universities FWO. These agencies govern the various policy instruments and measures of the Flemish region aiming at science and innovation. Flanders holding Company PMV governs several funds and measures that facilitate start and risk capital.
• The Ministry of the French Community governs the fundamental research aspects (mainly through the F.R.S-FNRS National Scientific Research Fund) The regional governments oversee applied and industrial research with economic development purposes, and support technology guidance and funding for interfaces between research organisations, industry and universities.
  • The key agency within the Walloon administration is the DGO6 (Directorate General operational for Economy, Employment and Research).

Brussels-Capital's R&D policy is governed by the Ministry of the Brussels-Capital Region and the implementing agency is INNOVIRIS (Brussels Institute for Research and Innovation).

There are three main funders: BELSPO (federal), FWO (Flanders) and F.N.R.S. (Wallonia)

FWO

• ROARMAP lists 19 open access mandates in Belgium, either on the funder or on the institutional level. At present OpenDOAR list 36 Belgian repositories.
• The number of Open Access publications in university repositories is steadily increasing. This can be linked to the sustain awareness-raising initiatives and training sessions organised by the universities.
• All universities who have Open Access repositories are compatible with OpenAIRE except one, with an Immediate Deposit/Optional Open Access (ID/OA) Mandate. They regularly organise in-house training sessions on Open Access. Some universities already have research data management strategies and plans in place.
• To stimulate exchange of good practices and expertise a working group on open science and research data management has been established within the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR).
• KULeuven installed, as a pilot, a FAIR open access fund to stimulate researchers to publish in full open access journals with a reasonable APC. Part of the pilot is also an open access book fund.