Kirsti Ala-Mutka

C3 Digital ScienceDG Communications networks, content and technologies

European Commission

Madrid, 23.10.2012

Open Accessto research results – European

policy perspective

“The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission”

Outline

• Digital Science• Open Access to research results• European policies for Open Access• Issues and arguments

The European Commission is a...

• Policy maker• Consultations, debates...• Invites Member States to take

action• Proposes EU legislation

(Other institutions: Parliament, Council...)

• Funding agency• Research & Innovation: FP7,

Horizon 2020• Sets access and dissemination

rules for funded research

• (Infra)structure funder and capacity builder

• E.g. pan-European Open Data Portal, OpenAIRE etc.

• Fund projects relevant for Open Access and Digital Science

• Supports networking activities

Digital science: problem and objectivesProblem being addressed:European investment in R&D is not sufficiently exploitedR&D efforts are fragmentedResearch results do not reach the market efficiently enough

"Digital Science" response:The internet unprecedented opportunities to optimise the impact of publicly-funded research, ie. Open Infrastructures for Open Science:Faster growth: Better exploitation of research results for and by innovative industry products get to the market more quicklyGreater efficiency: foster collaboration; avoid duplication of effortMore transparency: involve citizens & society in the scientific process

Digital science: the scope

Making science and research more efficient, transparent, trustworthy and valued through the tools and collaboration models made possible by ICT

CONNECT « Digital Science » unit focuses on promoting • Open Access to publications and data• Collaborative Digital Science practices development and outreach to the citizens, especially the young people• Digital Science contribution to policy-making• Coordination of CONNECT contribution to EU Excellence in Science

What is open access?

True or false?

True False

Open access means online access to knowledge at no charge to the user.

Open access refers to publications only.

True or false?True False

An open access requirement is an obligation to publish.

Open access does not interfere with the decision to exploit research results commercially (such as patenting).

Open access publications are of a lower quality.

Open access (OA) to scientific information

• OA = online access at no charge to the user• to peer-reviewed scientific publications• to research data

• Publications:• OA comes after a decision to publish• OA does not interfere with patenting

• Two OA publishing business models• Gold OA: costs covered by authors immediate OA• Green OA: deposit of manuscripts delayed OA

• Data:• Making available the datasets underpinning the scientific publication• Making available raw data, results of experiments

Expected benefits of open access• Results of publicly funded research can be disseminated more

broadly and faster for the benefit of:

- researchers

- industry

- citizens

• Equal access across Europe and beyond

• Drive down the costs of dissemination without sacrificing quality

• Enhanced transparency and reliability of research

• More efficient research through improved circulation of knowledge and collaborations

Respondents: Individual researcher (39%), citizen (28%), university/research institute (8%),library (7%), publisher (6%), international organisation (4%) etc.

EC public consultation

on Open Access

(July-September 2011)

In favour: • 100%

•National and Regional Government•Research funding organization

•More than 90%•Libraries,•Citizens,•Universities/research institutes•Researchers

Disagree:•67% of publishers

GoldGold & GreenGreen

GoldGold OA

• Instead of the traditional subscription-based model…• Costs of publishing are covered by authors (often via

funding bodies or institutions)Fees for publishing usually range from 500 till 4,000 EUR

• Research articles are immediately available free of charge upon publication

• Gold OA is often referred to as paid open access, author pays model or open access publishingopen access publishing

• Some journals offer both subscriptions and open access publishing to selected on-line articles (hybrid journals)

GreenGreen OA• In addition to the traditional subscription-based model…

• The authors deposit (self-archive) the final peer-reviewed manuscript in a repository (open archive) to be made available in open access mode …

• … usually after an embargo period allowing publishers to recoup their investment (via subscriptions / pay per download)

• The publisher’s official version (usually PDF) is however immediately available ‘pay per download’ from the publisher

• Both versions contain the same peer-reviewed content, but may be differently formatted

• Green OA is often referred to as self-archivingself-archiving

Article Accepted, Certified, Published by Journal

Research is done Researchers write

article

Submitted to Journal

Peer review

Revision by article’s Authors

Researchers can access the article if their university has a subscription to the Journal

New research builds on published results

Traditionalaccess loop

Source: Adapted from T. Brody and S. Harnad (Southampton University)

Self-archiving access loop

Author’s manuscript is self-archived in

Repository

Access is maximized and accelerated

European policies on Open Access

Recent EC policy steps on OA

2007 • EC Communication on scientific information• Council Conclusions on scientific information in the digital age• FP7 (OA publishing costs/Gold OA) are eligible)

2008 • Open Access Pilot in FP7 (Green OA)

2009 • OpenAire platform launched to give EU-wide access to publications (and since Dec. 2011: research data)

• EC Communication on ICT infrastructures for e-Science

2012 • Survey on OA in FP7• Survey of state of play in Member States• Open Science stakeholder consultation event (Rome)• EC Communication on ERA• EC Communication and Recommendation on access to

scientific information

Digital Agenda

Communication from the Commission ‘A Digital Agenda for Europe’ (COM(2010)245, 19.05.2010)•Initiative to speed up the roll-out of high-speed internet and reach the benefits of a digital single market•Action area Research and Innovation:

Europe must invest more in R&D in order to ensure that ideas reach the market

Europe's public sector expenditure should be used to spur innovation

Publicly funded research should be widely disseminated through open access publication of scientific data and papers

Innovation Union

Communication from the Commission ‘Innovation Union’ (COM(2010)546, 06.10.2010)•Initiative to improve framework conditions and access to finance for research and innovation•Action area: Delivering the European Research Area:

Commitment 4: European Research Area framework will seek to ensure a common approach to dissemination and transfer and use of research results, including through open access to publications and data from publicly funded research”

•Action area: Promoting openness and capitalising on Europe’s creative potential:

Commitment 20: The Commission will promote open access to the results of publicly funded research. It will aim to make open access to publications the general principle for projects funded by the EU research Framework Programmes.

European Research Area• Development since 2000: a Europe-wide space or ‘single market’

for research and innovation in which researchers, scientific knowledge and technology circulate freely

• Latest developments: 2012 Communication from the Commission 'A Reinforced European Research Area Partnership for Excellence and Growth' (COM(2012) 392, 17.7.2012)Action area: 2.5. Optimal circulation, access to and transfer of scientific knowledge MS and stakeholder actions on open access and preservationEC to establish open access to scientific publications as a general principle in Horizon 2020; experimentation with open access to dataMS and stakeholder actions related to the "Digital ERA", e.g. electronic identify for researchers, digital research services, e-infrastructures, etc. Support activities to raise stakeholder awareness of open access and e-Science

Horizon 2020

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing Horizon 2020 (COM(2011) 809/3)•Suggested themes and budget for the framework programme for Research and Innovation(2014-2020)

•Has an objective of “deepening the relationship between science and society and reinforcing public confidence in science”, including

informed engagement of citizens and civil society promoting science education making scientific knowledge more accessible

•Digital Science development is supported through specific programmes

Future and Emerging Technologies (CONNECT) Research Infrastructures (e-infrastructures) (CONNECT and RTD) Science in Society (RTD)

What are our objectives?

• Develop and implement open access to research results from projects funded by the EU Research Framework Programmes• Including fund research and support activities in the area of

open access

• Encourage national policy initiatives aiming at improving access to and preservation of scientific information

• Contribute to policy co-ordination between Member States

In the words of Vice-President Kroes:

We spend hundreds of billions of euros on research in Europe and we need to make sure the results can have the largest possible impact. As in so many other fields, the internet is once again the key to this progress.

As one of the biggest players in this field, the EU is placing European science as a global leader: and giving taxpayers the “value for money” they deserve.

17 July 2012 press conference

Open access will … boost Europe's innovation capacity and give citizens quicker access to the benefits of scientific discoveries."

September 2012 Stakeholder meeting

In the words of Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn:

Scientific information package

• Adopted on 17 July 2012 together with ERA Communication "A Reinforced European Research Area Partnership for Excellence and Growth"

• Commission Communication: "Towards better access to scientific information: Boosting the benefits of public investments in research" takes stock of and announces EC actions on access to and

preservation of scientific information

• Commission Recommendation on access to and preservation of scientific information recommends actions for the Member States on access to and

preservation of scientific information

Better access to scientific information

Commission Communication: "Towards better access to scientific information: Boosting the benefits of public investments in research" (COM(2012) 401, 17.7.2012)

Horizon 2020 makes open access to publications the general principle for all projects

In Horizon 2020 a pilot for open access to data will be implemented, taking into account IPR and commercial interests

In Horizon 2020 the Commission will continue to support relevant projects and infrastructure and will also promote open access with international partners

The Commission will work with member states on common principles and standards and to monitor progress

26

Better access to scientific information

Commission Recommendation on access to and preservation of scientific information (C(2012) 4890, 17.7.2012)

• Member States to define policies for and implement: OA to publications OA to research data – taking into account data-specific

concerns preservation and re-use of sientific information e-infrastructures

• Consistency between EU H2020 policy and MS policy

• Structured co-ordination of MS at EU-level and reporting

• Multi-stakeholder dialogue to be set up 27

Open Access in FP7 and H2020

• OA Pilot in FP7• "Best effort" to provide OA• 7 research areas• Peer-reviewed publications• Allowed embargos: 6 / 12 months

(for social sciences & humanities)

• OA publishing costs• Eligible while project runs

• OA mandate in H2020• Obligation to provide OA• All research areas• Peer-reviewed publications• Allowed embargos: 6 / 12 months• Plus: Possibility for research data

• OA publishing costs• Eligibile while project runs• New financial tool to cover later

publications under discussion

Gre

en

OA

Gold

OA

Support and monitoring

FP7 project OpenAIRE (Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe)

• Support for technical implementation of the Open Access Pilot in FP7

• Helpdesk & contact points in the EU Member States

• Technical infrastructure of digital repositories to deposit and access articles and data produced under FP7 (incl. ERC)

• Repository for homeless publications (Orphan repository)

www.openaire.eu

Some arguments in favour of OA

• Fast and easy access to relevant information• Avoid duplication of research & accelerate innovative

process• Improved quality and transparency of research• Improved visibility and citation rates• Authors can retain their copyright• Attractive to industry/SMEs• Public money used efficiently• Access for all

Reservations about OA

• Perceived conflict with patenting• Self-archiving & OA publishing can be time consuming /

cumbersome • Scientists’ ‘freedom’ to chose their journal• A challenge to publishers• Questions about quality control (version control)• Financing of the author-pays model & infrastructures• Sustainability• Complexities to sharing data

In summary …

• Open access and related measures: a means to improve knowledge circulation and thus innovation in Europe

• Member States are at different stages need to get to the same speed and co-ordinate

• Both 'Green' and 'Gold' open access measures to publications should be promoted and will be included in Horizon 2020

• Open Access to data should be promoted and will be piloted in Horizon2020

• Open access must be effective, affordable, competitive and sustainable for researchers and innovative businesses

Conclusion

‘The question is no longer ‘if’ we should have open access. The question is about ‘how’ we should develop it further and promote it.’

(N. Kroes)

Learn more on Open Access and the Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/open_access

OpenAIRE:www.openaire.eu

Contact

Celina Ramjouécelina.ramjoue@ec.europa.eu

Kirsti Ala-MutkaKirsti.ala-mutka@ec.europa.eu

Your questions & your feedback

Twitter:@OpenAccessEC