Budapest Open Access Initiative
The Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) is a public statement of principles relating to open access to the research literature,[1] which was released to the public on February 14, 2002.[2] It arose from a conference convened in Budapest by the Open Society Institute on December 1–2, 2001 to promote open access which at that time was also known as Free Online Scholarship.[3][4] This small gathering of individuals has been recognised as one of the major defining events of the open access movement.[5][6] As of 2021, the text of the initiative had been translated to 13 languages.[7]
Not to be confused with Open Archives Initiative.Impact[edit]
Along with the 2003 Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities and 2003 Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing, the Budapest initiative defined open access to research, lay out strategies for achieving this, and began the "open access movement" or "social movement" phase of open access advocacy.[15] [16]
The initiative was sponsored with a US$3 million grant from the Open Society Institute.[17]
The 16 original signatories of the Budapest Open Access Initiative included prominent early advocates for open access:[18]
In February 2002, the signatories released BOAI in a version that could be signed by the public. As of February 2016, over 5,900 individuals and 800 organizations had signed it.[18] By 2023, this was over 6800 individuals and 1600 organizations.[18]