Open Access to publications and research data in Horizon 2020: what are the requirements and how can institutional repositories and OpenAIRE help to meet them?

Abstract

[Excerpt] In the last decade the principle of Open Access to publicly funded research has been getting a growing support from policy makers and funders across Europe, both at national level and within the European Union context. At European level some of the first relevant steps taken by the European Research Council (ERC) with a statement supporting Open Access (2006), shortly followed by guidelines for researchers funded by the ERC (2007) stating that all peer-reviewed publications from ERC funded projects should be made openly accessible shortly after their publication. Those guidelines were revised in October 2013, reinforcing the mandatory character of the requirements and expanding them to monographs1. The European Commission took it first global political initiative in August 2008, launching an Open Access Pilot, covering seven areas (corresponding to about 20% of the total funding) of the 7th Framework Programme (FP7). All the grant agreements signed after August 2008 contained a clause (Special Clause 39) requiring beneficiaries to deposit articles resulting from FP7 projects into an repository and to make their best efforts to ensure open access to these articles within six months or twelve months. Building on the results from those first initiatives, and on the growing political support to Open Access, the Commissioners Neelie Kroes (Vice-President of the European Commision and responsible for the Digital Agenda) and Máire GeogheganQuinn (Commisioner for Research, Innovation and Science), presented in July 2012, three fundamental documents2, establishing Open Access as the "default" for the European Research Area, and the new Framework Programme, Horizon 2020. [.] ; WT -Wellcome ...