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Open Access policy guidelines for research funders

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The European policy context

European Commission: Open circulation of knowledge is one of the five priorities of the

European Research Area (ERA) And one of the constituents of Responsible Research & Innovation

(RRI) Recommendation to Member States (July 2012) Open Access pilot for FP7 (until end-2013) Open Access mandatory policy for all Horizon 2020 research (2014-20) Open Data pilot for Horizon 2020

More than half the 700+ Open Access policies are in Europe

Open Access policies worldwide

Data: ROARMAP: http://roarmap.eprints.org/ (data point October 2015)

Numbers and types of OA policymakers

Data: ROARMAP: http://roarmap.eprints.org/ (data point October 2015)

Open Access essentials Free online access to research outputs (journal articles, books,

data) Provided in three main ways:

Through author ‘self-archiving’ in repositories (‘Green’ OA) Publishing in Open Access journals (‘Gold’ OA) or as OA articles in

subscription journals (‘Hybrid Gold’ OA): Publishing Open Access books

Benefits of an Open Access policy: funders Improved monitoring of the quality and transparency of the research they fund Higher return on their investment by the re-use and higher visibility of the

results of the research they fund Enhanced innovation potential of research institutions and research-intensive

SMEs New and innovative ways of performing research (e.g.Text and Data Mining

and machine-intensive research methods) Enable new collaborations, interdisciplinary and international research Foster science-literate and research-literate citizens and enhance citizen

science Gradually save on expensive journals subscriptions

Benefits of an Open Access policy: researchers

Increases the visibility of, and showcases, their research Increases the usage of their research Increases the impact of their research (citations) Repository enables them to collect all their outputs in a safe,

permanent location Repository provides information on usage and impact Repository provides personalised publication lists to be used in

grant applications, CVs and when writing articles

The Open Access policy at a glance Aligns with the European Commission’s H2020 policy Mandatory Requires immediate deposit of research outputs in a repository at

acceptance for publication but respects reasonable embargoes required by publishers

Encourages publishing in Open Access journals and monographs Specifies that publishing costs are eligible project costs and grant

money may be spent on them: specifies limits that can be spent per project or per year and disallows publication in ‘hybrid’ journals

Specifies the licence to be used for Open Access articles Links compliance with project reporting, future funding requests and

performance evaluation

Policy implementation: useful steps Assessment of the policies of the European Commission and

comparator organisations internationally Dialogue and collaborative approach with stakeholders Establishment of the relevant e-infrastructure (e.g. repository

and/or CRIS/research bibliography) Formulation of the policy Guidance and training of researchers in compliance Provision of incentives and rewards for compliance Clarification of sanctions for non-compliance Compliance monitoring mechanism(s) Provision of resources for the long term sustainability of the

services needed to support the policy

Practical checklist Research and map relevant comparator policies Involve stakeholders Formulate the policy Include the clause in grant agreements Assess infrastructural provision and plan developments where

necessary Guidance and support for researchers Provision for reward for compliance and sanction for non-compliance Establish mechanism to monitor compliance Mechanism to evaluate efficacy of the policy Resourcing and sustainability plan for supporting the policy

Thank you

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