In February 2016 the European University Association (EUA) published its Roadmap on Open Access to Research Publications as a key element of EUA’s long-term vision, to support European Universities in the transition to Science 2.0/Open Science.

Currently there is a strong political push towards Open Access (OA) - a phenomenon which has received increased attention from the academic community, publishers, research funders, governments and even the general public over the past years - at the global level, with enhanced opportunities to increase the visibility of, and widen access to, scientific articles.

Following this global trend, the European University Association (EUA), too, has been monitoring developments in OA to research publication, namely from an institutional perspective. Since 2007 EUA has developed a series of initiatives related to the implementation of institutional policies on OA to research publications.

In February 2016 the EUA published its Roadmap on Open Access to Research Publications as a key element of EUA’s long-term vision, to support its members (European Universities) in the transition to  Science 2.0/Open Science (Open Research), especially in terms of OA to scientific articles and the optimal, responsible sharing and re-use of scientific data.

Open Science involves  open data (including copyright, data protection, text and data mining issues), new models of evaluation and quality assessment (also of non-traditional research outputs), intellectual property rights, scientific recognition systems, digital literacy and awareness.

The Open Science movement “is paving the way to enhanced cross-fertilization of interdisciplinary research activities, which is critical to tackle complex research issues and societal challenges. Science 2.0 therefore holds great promise in strengthening the competitiveness of the European science and the research system overall” (Science 2.0/Open Science, EUA).

The roadmap – based on the outcomes of previous EUA activities, as well as on good practice recommendations such as Horizon 2020, OpenAIRE and the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment DORA -  is the fruit of a close collaboration with the EUA Expert Group on Science 2.0/Open Science that consists of a variety of activities based on principles of scholarly sharing and collaboration assisted by IT, namely Web 2.0 technologies.

The main goals of the roadmap are the following:

1. to foster structured dialogue among stakeholders;
2. to promote and support the adoption of OA policies, infrastructures and initiatives by European universities;
3. to encourage the development and establishment of advanced scientific recognition and research assessment systems;
4. to address intellectual property rights and copyright policies for various outputs;
5. to consider alternative and sustainable OA business models;
6. to promoting access, use and sharing of research publications and data, including text and data mining (TDM);
7. to encourage, support and eventually monitor the establishment of comprehensive standards for institutional OA policies concerning research publications and teaching materials.

The roadmap has come up with a set of well-defined objectives and priority actions for European universities that, by acting together, will undoubtedly set the pace for progress towards the generation of new open knowledge through research.

Priority actions at a glance:

• Gathering information and mapping the European OA landscape;
• Establishing a platform for dialogue and sharing good practices of “big deal” negotiations;
• Issuing principles and recommendations for negotiations with publishers;
• Proposing recommendations for institutional OA policies (based on current best practices, model policies and guidelines, e.g. the PASTEUR4OA project);
• Engaging researchers at all career levels in the development of novel academic recognition systems;
• Engaging in dialogue with other relevant stakeholders in the field, including other university networks, such as LERU, CESAER, as well as organizations such as COAR, LIBER, SPARC Europe, MPDL, Science Europe and the Global Research Council;
• Discussing with publishers economically realistic and viable conceptions of the future of OA;
• Mobilizing politicians for a fair, balanced and innovative publishing system.

Source:

EUA Roadmap on Open Access to Research Publications (news, 2016)
Full text of the report:  EUA Roadmap on Open Access to Research Publications (2016)

 
See also:

Recent EUA work in the area of Science 2.0/Open Science, OA to research publications:
EUA’s Open Access checklist for universities: A practical guide on implementation (2015)
Open Access to Research Publications. Looking Ahead. An overview of policy developments and positions from a European University Perspective (a briefing paper, 2014)
European University Association Contribution to the Public Consultation: “‘Science 2.0’: Science in Transition” (2014)
Recommendations from the EUA Working Group on Open Access (2008)

Save the date:

4 April 2016 - 5 April 2016, Open Science Conference, Europe Building, Amsterdam.