Transcript The European Commission policy on open access

The European Commission
policy on open access:
the importance of
text and data mining
Jean-François Dechamp
Open Access Policy Officer
European Commission
Directorate-General for Research & Innovation (DG RTD)
Brussels, 22 April 2013
Licences for Europe, TDM working group, 3rd meeting
What is open access (OA) to
scientific information
OA = online access at no charge to the user (&
further distribution and proper archiving)
• to peer-reviewed scientific publications
• to research data
Two main OA publishing business models
• Gold OA: costs covered (e.g. by 'authors')
immediate OA: provided by publisher
• Green OA: deposit of manuscripts
immediate/delayed OA: provided by author
Research & Innovation
Two Commissioners on open access
• Vice-President Neelie Kroes
• Digital Agenda
•
"We spend hundreds of billions of Euro
on research in Europe and we need to
make sure the results can have the
largest possible impact”
• (July 2012 Press conference)
• Commissioner
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn
• Research & Innovation
•
“Open access will (…) boost Europe's
innovation capacity and give citizens
quicker access to the benefits of
scientific discoveries”
• (2012 Stakeholder meeting)
Research & Innovation
The Commission objective
• The Commission wants to optimise the impact of publiclyfunded scientific research
• At European level (FP7, Horizon 2020)
• At Member State level
• One way to get there: open access
• Expected benefits:
• Results of publicly funded research can be disseminated more
broadly and faster for the benefit of researchers, industry and
citizens
• Equal access across Europe and beyond
• Drive down the costs of dissemination without sacrificing quality
Research & Innovation
The Commission strategy
• Develop and implement open access to research results
from projects funded by the EU Research Framework
Programmes (FP7, Horizon 2020)
• Incl. funding research and supporting activities in the area of
open access
• Encourage national initiatives at Member State level
• Contribute to co-ordination between Member States
and within the European Research Area
Research & Innovation
Three key documents from the
European Commission (16.07.2012)
• Communication 'A reinforced European Research Area
partnership for excellence and growth'
• Global setting
• Communication 'Towards better access to scientific
information: boosting the benefits of public investments in
research'
• Focus on Horizon 2020
• Recommendation on access to and preservation of
scientific information
• Focus on EU Member States
Research & Innovation
1. Communication 'ERA'
• The ERA is based on the internal market in which
researchers, scientific knowledge and technology circulate
freely
• One of the five priority areas: Optimal circulation,
access to and transfer of scientific knowledge
• Joint statement by stakeholders organisations
• Formal commitments and activities on open access by:
EARTO, NordForsk, Science Europe, LERU and EUA
Research & Innovation
2. Communication: 'Towards better
access to scientific information'
• OA mandate in H2020 (tbc)
'Best effort' to provide OA
7 areas
Peer-reviewed publications
Allowed embargos: 6/12 months
• OA publishing costs
• Eligible while project runs
• All projects
Gold OA
•
•
•
•
Green OA
• OA Pilot in FP7
•
•
•
•
•
Obligation to provide OA
All areas
Peer-reviewed publications
Allowed embargos: 6/12 months
+ Pilot for research data (details
tbd / interests to protect)
• OA publishing costs (tbc)
• Eligible while project runs
• All projects
• Publications after project ends??
(conditions tbd)
Research & Innovation
3. Recommendation to Member States
• 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 scientific information
• e-infrastructures
• Consistency between H2020 policy and MS policy
• Structured co-ordination of MS (National Points of Reference)
at EU-level and reporting
• Multi-stakeholder dialogue to be set up
Research & Innovation
How are Commission policy documents
on TDM and OA intertwined? (1/2)
• The 'Scientific information package' (2012 Communication
and Recommendation) came prior to the 2012
Communication on Content in the Digital Single Market
• No explicit mention of TDM
• However...
Research & Innovation
How are Commission policy documents
on TDM and OA intertwined? (2/2)
• Communication (Horizon 2020):
"[...] information already paid for by the public purse should not be paid for
again each time it is accessed or used, and [...] it should benefit European
companies and citizens to the full."
"The Commission encourages authors to retain their copyright and to grant
licences to publishers, according to the rules applying in Member States."
• Recommendation (Member States):
"[as a result of OA policies] Licensing systems contribute to open access [to
publications] in a balanced way, in accordance with and without prejudice to the
applicable copyright legislation, and encourage researchers to retain their
copyright while granting licences to publishers."
"[as a result of OA policies] Research data [are] publicly accessible, usable and
re-usable through digital infrastructures."
Research & Innovation
R&I perspective: the need to open
up TDM (1/2)
• Efficient use of TDM is a way optimise the impact of
publicly-funded scientific research
Several studies predict a huge potential of TDM for R&I and the economy
as a whole
• TDM must be ‘opened up’: existing legal and technical
barriers to TDM must be removed
Ideally and whenever possible, content to be mined should be open, free
to access online for text and data mining
At the very least, licenses to read / access content should include TDM
Technical challenges must also be addressed: being able to access large
volumes of data via unique entry points (platforms would speed up the
R&I process)
Research & Innovation
R&I perspective: the need to open
up TDM (2/2)
• The Commission understands the concerns of its stakeholders, including
the research community, about making additional licensing the only solution:
Content-mining licences should not be barriers to TDM of publiclyfunded research
• All evidence, opinions and solutions to facilitate the widest adoption of TDM
must be given equal weighting: No solution should be ruled to be out of
scope from the outset
• TDM policy development will have an impact not only on the R&I done in the
remit of Horizon 2020, but on any research and knowledge transfer
performed within the ERA
• Not only parallel developments in TDM should not jeopardize the EU policy on
open access  TDM policy developments must be coherent with the
broader move towards openness in R&I: open access, open data, open
innovation, citizen science, crowdsourcing, etc.
Research & Innovation
What can DG RTD bring to the process?
• Commission's objectives:
Stakeholders are invited to point to all the issues and limitations of current
licensing models and indicate preferred options, including legislative reform
The stakeholder dialogue does not affect the parallel on-going legislative review
Conclusions do not bind any of the participants
The overall responsibility for the dialogue rests with DGs CNECT, EAC & MARKT
• DG RTD will be more actively involved:
Need to ensure the broadest discussion and reporting on various possible
solutions to tackle the obstacles for TDM
This includes considering copyright exceptions in the EU legal framework
on copyright
Need to ensure coherence with the EU policy on open access
Research & Innovation
Thank you!
• Website of the European Commission on open access
• http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/open_access
• Contacts in DG RTD
• [email protected]
Research & Innovation