Elsevier signs its first ever ‘read and publish’ open access deal with Norway

Dutch publishing giant Elsevier has signed an open access deal with Norway, which will see most of the research published by the country’s academics freely available around the world.

The Norwegian Directorate for ICT and Joint Services in Higher Education and Research (Unit) will pay €9 million (£7.8 million) a year during a two-year pilot that both sides say will allow them to gather valuable data on publishing patterns. Norwegian researchers publish around 2000 papers in Elsevier journals each year.