European Council Calls for Open Access to Scientific Articles by 2020, and an ‘Open Science’ System

On 27 May EU ministers of science, innovation and industry agreed to support “a transition to immediate open access as the default by 2020.” Conclusions of the meeting – which took place in the context of the EU Competitiveness Council – were published as The Transition Towards an Open Science System on 27 May. At a press conference following the meeting, Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation said the result of the meeting was an “amazing achievement” by the Dutch Presidency of the Council which agreed “to further promote the mainstreaming of open access to scientific publications by continuing to support a transition to immediate open access as the default by 2020, using the various models possible and in a cost-effective way, without embargoes or with as short as possible embargoes, and without financial and legal barriers.” [Full text]

The EU Competitiveness Council meeting agenda on open science was structured around this document prepared by the Dutch Presidency. The main point under consideration were:

– The importance of the European Open Science Cloud and the Open Science Policy Platform, in the context of the European Open Science Agenda
– The removal of barriers and the fostering of incentives for open science policy
– Open access to scientific publications and optimal re-use of research data
– The mainstreaming and further promotion of open science policies
– Embedding open science.