The University of Oviedo has joined the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. In an act in which Peter Gruss, the president of the Max Planck Society, promoter of this initiative, was present, the Rector, Vicente Gotor, gave a signed manifest that pledges the commitment of the Asturian academic institution to publishing online its scientific and academic production. More than 450 universities and research centers around the world participate in this initiative.

The Rector remarked the commitment of the Asturian academic institution to the dissemination of knowledge and the spirti of the Berlin Declaration. "In the moment of crisis in which we live and with the decisions taken by publishing houses, the importance of this initiative cannot be denied", he explained. The act took place at the Library of the Historical Building of the University. "This room symbolizes everything that the Max Planck Society and the Berlin Declaration stand for", affirmed Gruss, who pointed that, since the start of this initiative a decade ago, 10% of the scientific publications are already freely accessible and another 12% are made available after a specific period of time.

The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities was approved on October 22, 2003, by proposal of the Max Planck Society (Open Access at the Max Plank Society, 2003). The Open Access movement is an international initiative that promotes the access to knowledge online without any technical, economic or administrative barriers and which is applied to the publishing and dissemination of electronic resources, such as scientific journals, didactic materials, etc. The mission of the University is to disseminate and question science, and it is imperative for it to create and maintain structures that act as a support for research, teaching and university extension.

The University of Oviedo joined this proposal coinciding with the celebration of the International Week of Free Access, and the presence of the directors of the Max Planck Society, winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation.

By signing the Berlin Declaration, the University of Oviedo commits itself to maintain and increase the Institutional Repository as an instrument to deposit the academic documents generated by the institution that have been financed by public funding, and to encourage the university community to make their publication free to access.