Open Science

Having in mind the low amount of DOIs in our discipline, our research outputs from 2019 to 2024 with a DOI have been categorized according to different open access status.

Open Access status of FdR research outputs (2019-2024)

The unknown status is largely due to the absence of DOIs for our research output. The numbers for our output with a DOI show that including gold, hybrid and green open access, 30.7 % of the Faculty’s research output in 2024 is available open access. We aim to further increase this percentage.

Given the diverse landscape of open access publishing in the legal sub-disciplines, with a particularly limited offering of open access publishers in the Dutch language, the Faculty has chosen to aim for Diamond Open Access publishing where possible, in addition to making use of UM-wide agreements for Gold Open Access publishing. For Diamond Open Access publishing, we cooperate with Maastricht University Press (MUP) but this can also take place with other partners. Our recently launched open access Law Research Paper Series (Annex 20) and the planned Faculty of Law Open Access PhD dissertation series, are hosted by MUP. For the Maastricht Law Series, we also have an agreement with the publisher to make the content of the series available open access. Where diamond or gold open access options are not available, and the publication of one’s author’s version is not possible, we rely on green open access. Another action point therefore has been formulated to raise awareness for the Library service in relation to the Taverne framework (Taverne - You share, we take care! - Maastricht University Library). Our strategy can be illustrated as follows:

The discussion on making educational resources available is still in its infancy. A thorough exploration is still necessary. In the meantime, faculty policy has focussed on providing support and advice in making decisions about the OA availability of teaching materials to staff as one of the tasks of the newly created Academic Information Committee (see below). This Committee will also further explore which possibilities for OER could be feasible for our Faculty and will advise the Faculty Board accordingly. Most concretely, we have chosen to encourage colleagues to publish textbooks open access with MUP by providing an incentive of EUR 1.000. So far, this has not yet been used. Also, the use of OER materials have been incorporated in our University Teaching Qualification training for staff.

When it comes to FAIR data, our experience with FAIR data is still limited but we invest in awareness raising among and training for staff (in particular through research meetings informing about data management aspects), and tailor-made support by the Data Steward and Information Manager. So far, we have fully integrated the use of the Research Project Services Platform (Research Project Services platform - Maastricht University Library) in our Faculty structures, which facilitates data management for funded research projects.
 

  b) Activities so far and best practices

In October 2025, a new Academic Information Committee (Annex 21) has been created that will, among others, assume the task of advising the Faculty Board on aspects of open science as well as serve as a group for colleagues to obtain information and advice on open science aspects, such as open access models, how to obtain a DOI, where to find open educational resources, etc. With this group, we intend to take next steps in raising awareness and helping colleagues in reaching open science objectives. We are creating a new channel via UMployee to share important information with colleagues in a way that emphasizes the advantages of publishing, where possible, open access. 

Research institutes and groups are actively involved in becoming familiar with open access journals, they also publish with them where gold open access agreements exist or where external funding enables paying for open access. Otherwise, several rely on pre-print publications and green open access through Taverne. Researchers also adhere as much as possible by FAIR data principles. In particular, data and research codes developed by our Law and Tech staff is made freely available under open licenses. Another way of making research open access available is to use blog posts to disseminate research outcomes. Some colleagues also make presentation slides and other materials available open science; the discussion should not be limited to publications only. Also hybrid formats of conferences contribute to open science.

Overall, however, researchers are in need of more awareness and guidance in relation to different open access models, the licenses that are attached to it, the pre-print publication culture and the rights retention strategy, the importance of DOIs and how to use them, support in what is allowed when negotiating agreements with publishers, how to register metadata, etc.

Some best practices are illustrated here below:

• Some open access publications with internationally reputed publishers are: 

  • D. Curtin, T. Ehnert, A. Morandini and S. Tas (eds), The European Ombudsman Investigated: From Old Battles to New Challenges, 2025, Hart. ISBN: 978 1 5099 7560 0; (GlawNet)

  • Pierik, Roland & Marcel Verweij (2024). Inducing Immunity: Justifying Immunization Policies in Times of Vaccine Hesitancy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (Basic Bioethics series), ISBN: 9780262547796; (Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence)

  • Peeters, M., M. Eliantonio, K. Kulovesi, and A. Savaresi (eds.) (2026), Greening the EU and the Rule of Law — Opportunities and Limits of the EU’s Legal Powers (Edward Elgar), within the context of a Jean Monnet Network (GlawNet, Maastricht Centre for European Law)

  • A special issue on competition law published in the Springer journal China-EU law Journal (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12689-023-00104-5) 

  exemplifies how METRO scholars collaborate with former PhD researchers on comparative legal analysis of EU and Chinese competition law. 

• The Law & Tech Lab’s Case Law Explorer translates advanced network analysis techniques into an openly accessible tool for legal education, research, and practice. It enhances access to law and legal understanding while bridging the gap between technical methods and legal users. The project reflects successful research programming by integrating research, teaching innovation, and open educational resources.

• Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation fellow Anke Moerland’s pre-print publication Moerland, A. (2024), ‘Intellectual Property Law and AI’, in: Lim, E. and Morgan P., The Cambridge Handbook of Private Law and Artificial Intelligence, Cambridge University Press, p. 362 – 383 is available on SSRN (http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4203360). It shows a strong commitment to achieving open access for book chapters with reputed publishers which do not offer an open access policy. With 3963 downloads so far, its visibility and scientific impact is high.

• The Faculty of Law promotes publishing PhD theses open access. The first to be published open access with Maastricht University Press was: Constanta Rosca (2024), Digital Arms for Digital Consumer Harms: Mapping Legal and Technical Solutions for Dark Patterns in EU Consumer Law, Proefschriftenmaken.nl. https://doi.org/10.26481/mup.2403

  
  c) Questions and suggestions for the mid-term review

When refining our Open Science policy for the future, one of the main questions is how one can incentivize colleagues to publish open access, including textbooks. Our current publication culture and recognition structures (also in terms of career advancement) seem to be perceived as requiring publication with reputable publishers and journals; their open access model seems to be secondary in the publication decision. Publication culture also strongly differs along subfields, language and target audience. So the debate may evolve around the question what reassurances or incentives would be needed to initiate such a culture change. 

Another question we should raise is whether open science generally achieves more visibility and accessibility. For some publications, large and specifically targeted distribution networks, traditionally related to reputed publishers, are of high importance because they target the audience we want to address. On the other hand, open access publications achieve wide dissemination as they can be shared and read free of charge. How do we balance the wish to have societal impact (through professional outlets) with open science principles?

There also seems to be a (mis)conception that (diamond) open access journals and publishers do not meet high research quality standards. In essence, there is a need to verify whether (diamond) open access outlets include independent editorial boards and carry out careful review processes. Some guidance may be useful, in particular along the lines of what quality parameters do we expect and hence should check for (diamond) open access publishers.

In terms of support, the question is posed whether a faculty policy officer would be needed (in addition to the Academic Information Committee) to coordinate awareness raising, training and support for staff. Beyond the several topics identified above, there also seems to be a need for more administrative support when it comes to the management of FAIR data, in particular the interaction between data management plans, GDPR and ethics approval for empirical field research.