The Budapest Open Access Initiative is an initiative started and supported by the Open Society Foundations. In February 2002, it released a declaration of its support for open-access publishing, which included policy recommendations. It has since convened meetings on that declaration’s anniversary, made additional recommendations, and maintains an online discussion forum. ¹

Background

The Budapest Open Access Initiative began in February 2002 as an initiative of the Open Society Institute (now the Open Society Foundations), a grantmaking network founded by left-of-center philanthropist George Soros, when the organization convened a meeting of open-access activists in Budapest, Hungary, where the organization is headquartered. ²

At this meeting, individuals from organizations and institutions including Bioline International, University College London, the Next Page Foundation, BioMed Central, the University of Southampton, University of Montreal, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, and Earlham College signed a declaration espousing support for “open access,” defined as the free availability of published scholarly and scientific articles, data, and information. The declaration urged governments, universities, libraries, editors, publishers and other related bodies and individuals to support open access in their respective domains. ^{3 4}

Since the initial declaration in 2002, the Initiative has convened anniversary meetings with new participants on the declaration’s 10-, 15-, and 20-year anniversaries, each time reaffirming the points of the original document, and adding suggestions as to how signatories might achieve their espoused aims. ⁵

For instance, on the declaration’s 20-year anniversary, the Initiative recommended that organizations reform research assessments involved in promotion, hiring, and tenure decisions to take into account a candidate’s commitment to open access principles. ⁶

Other Activities

Aside from convening anniversary meetings and issuing recommendations, the Budapest Open Access Initiative also launched a moderated, online discussion forum in February 2003, the archives of which are hosted by the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science. ⁷

Relationship to the Open Society Foundations

According to the Budapest Open Access Initiative’s website, the Open Society Institute (now the Open Society Foundations) convened, “gave rise” to, served as the first “institutional signatory,” and is “committed” to using its resources to advance and recruit others organizations to the Initiative. ⁸

Signatories

As of June 2024, 7,387 individuals and 1,774 organizations (largely scholars, journals, publishers, and academic institutions) have signed the Budapest Open Access Initiative’s Declaration. ⁹

Leadership

The most recent steering committee of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, which synthesized signatories feedback during the organization’s 20-year anniversary meeting, included Dominique Babini, open science advisor of CLACSO (Consejo Latineoamericano de Clenclas Sociales);

Leslie Chan, director of the Knowledge Equity Lab at the University of Toronto, Scarborough; Melissa Hagemann, senior program officer of the Open Society Foundations; Heather Joseph, the executive director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition; Iryna Kuchma, the open access program director of Electronic Information for Libraries; and Peter Suber, the senior advisor on open access of Harvard Library. ¹⁰

As of March 31, 2008, the administrator of the Budapest Open Access Initiative’s online forum is Iryina Kuchman, a member of the Initiative’s 20^th anniversary steering committee as well as the open access program director of Electronic Information for Libraries. ¹¹

1. “Read the Declaration.” Budapest Open Access Initiative. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read/.
2. “Frequently Asked Question.” Budapest Open Access Initiative. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/faq/#background.
3. “Read the Declaration.” Budapest Open Access Initiative. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read/.
4. “Frequently Asked Question.” Budapest Open Access Initiative. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/faq/#background.
5. Homepage. Budapest Open Access Initiative. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/.
6. “20th Anniversary of Open Access Marked with Recommendations.” Budapest Open Access Initiative. March 15, 2022. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/English-press-release-v3.pdf.
7. “Forum.” Budapest Open Access Initiative. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/forum/.
8. “Frequently Asked Question.” Budapest Open Access Initiative. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/faq/#background.
9. “View Organization Signatures.” Budapest Open Access Initiative. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/sign/signatures/.
10. “THE BUDAPEST OPEN ACCESS INITIATIVE: 20TH ANNIVERSARY RECOMMENDATIONS.” Budapest Open Access Initiative. February 14, 2022. Accessed June 10, 2024.
11. “Forum.” Budapest Open Access Initiative. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/forum/.