Open Access to Research in Europe: strong belief and recommendation, and a ‘soft law’

The communication and recommendation from the European Commission Towards better access to scientific information: Boosting the benefits of public investments in research Brussels (17.7.2012, COM(2012) 401 final) has three main objectives:

1) by 2014 all EU Member States should have governmental Open Access policies

2) by 2016 60% available research articles in Europe will be available in OA

3) between 2014 to 2020 100% of publications from Horizon 2020 will be available in OA

In line with these EC guidelines Commissioner Máire Geoghegan Quinn delivered a keynote speech Networked scholarship in a networked world: participation in open access at the opening of the Berlin 10 Open Access Conference  on 7 November 2012.

Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn also gave a video-speech at the OpenAIRE Conference  “Enlightenment in the Knowledge Society: From Pilot to Service” that  I attended on 21-22 November in Goettingen. The commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science expresses to be a firm believer in Open Access; sharing knowledge and research is crucial to maximize public value and impact of research.