1. The European Research Council
Dr Dagmar Meyer* ERC Executive Agency, Unit A1
Open Access to Excellent Science - the European Research Council's approach
Open Access Week at EPFL
24 October 2013
*…with contributions by Daniel Spichtinger, European Commission, DG RTD

2. Overview Introduction What do we mean by Open Access? Why Open Access?
Different roles of Commission and ERC
Open Access in FP7 (Open Access pilot)
ERC approach to Open Access in FP7
ERC Statements / Open Access Guidelines
FP7 Special Clause 39 ERC
Practical implementation
ERC Open Access support initiatives
Europe PMC and arXiv
Open Access in the SH domain
Open Access in Horizon 2020
What changes?
Pilot on Open Access to Research Data
Open Access under Horizon 2020 in the ERC programme

3. What do we mean by Open Access?
Open Access (OA) to scientific information
OA = online access at no charge to the user
to peer-reviewed scientific publications
to research data
For publications:
OA comes after a decision to publish
does not interfere with the decision to exploit research results commercially e.g. patenting
publications not of lower quality: in general same peer review process as for other publications
Two main OA publishing business models
Gold OA: costs covered (by authors/funders)  immediate OA
Green OA: deposit of manuscripts  immediate/delayed OA

4. Why Open Access? EU Policy objective:
to optimise the impact of publicly-funded scientific research, both
at European level (Framework Programmes), and
at Member State level (encouragement of national initiatives; policy coordination)
Expected impacts:
Economic growth (accelerated innovation)
Better science (build on previous results)
More efficient science (avoid duplication)
Improved transparency (involving citizens & society)

5. Specifically for the ERC:
The mission of the ERC is to support excellent fundamental research in sciences and the humanities.
The main outputs of this research are new knowledge, ideas and understanding, which the ERC expects its researchers to publish in peer-reviewed articles and monographs.
The ERC considers that providing free online access to these materials is the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of the research it funds can be accessed, read and used as the basis for further research.

6. EC and ERC – working together in different roles
The European Commission is a...
Policy maker
Proposes EU legislation
Legislates with other EU institutions
Invites Member States to act
Funding agency
Sets access and dissemination rules for EC-funded research
Research Framework Programmes (next: Horizon2020)
Capacity builder
Funds infrastructure projects relevant for open access and Digital Science
Funds projects that support EC policy
The European Research Council is …
Primarily a research funder
No policy remit as such
Primary objective: to fund the best researchers conducting the best research
Scientific Council to develop scientific strategy aimed at achieving this objective
Open Access promoted as a means to further scientific excellence

7. Open Access in FP7 OA pilot in FP7
7 areas of the Framework Programme (>1300 projects to date)
20% of total FP7 budget ( )
OA publishing costs are eligible in FP7
Since the beginning of FP7, for all projects
Limited to duration of project
European Research Council
Joined the OA pilot in 2012 (Special Clause 39 ERC)
Maximum embargo period accepted according to SC 39 ERC: months for all disciplines (instead of 6/12 months for rest of pilot)
OpenAIRE / OpenAIRE plus
EU-funded portal giving access to repositories across Europe (implements FP7 Pilot); linking publications and underlying data

8. FP7 Open Access pilot Seven areas
Energy
Environment
Health
Information & Comm. Technologies [only cognitive systems, interaction & robotics]
Research Infrastructures [only e-Infrastructures]
Science in Society
Socioeconomic Sciences & Humanities
Embargo (COM: 6/12 months / ERC: 6 months)
allows publishers to ensure a profit on investment (by e.g. charging for subscription),
while then providing OA to research articles once embargo period has lapsed.
Special Clause 39: FP7 grant recipients are expected to
1. deposit peer-reviewed research articles or final manuscripts resulting from their FP7 projects into an online repository;
2. make best effort to ensure open access within 6 months after publication (COM: 12 months for Science in Society and for Socioeconomic Sciences & Humanities).

9. ERC Statements on Open Access
ERC Scientific Council Statement on Open Access – December 2006
ERC Scientific Council Guidelines for Open Access – 17 December 2007
Open Access Guidelines for researchers funded by the ERC – June 2012
New: Revised Guidelines adopted on 22 October 2013

10. ERC Open Access Guidelines –Revision of October 2013
Open access required for research papers and monographs that are supported in whole, or in part, by ERC funding
Maximum embargo period 6 months (12 months for Social Sciences and Humanities)
Use of discipline-specific repositories strongly encouraged (Europe PubMed Central for LS domain, arXiv for PE domain; no recommendation for SH domain)
Alternatively institutional repositories or centralised ones such as Zenodo)
Research data should be retained and researchers should be prepared to share their data where possible
Host institutions are encouraged to cover open access related costs after the end of the project for up to 24 months

11. Special Clause 39 ERC – applicable to FP7 ERC projects from 2012-13 calls
In addition to Article II.30.3, the beneficiary shall deposit an electronic copy of the published version or the final manuscript accepted for publication of a scientific publication, related to foreground published before or after the final report, in an institutional or subject-based repository at the moment of publication.
The beneficiary is required to make its best efforts to ensure that this electronic copy becomes freely and electronically available to anyone through this repository:
immediately, if the scientific publication is published "open access", i.e. if an electronic version is also available free of charge via the publisher, or
within 6 months of publication.

12. ERC Open Access Guidelines vs. Special Clause 39 ERC
aspirational (not legally binding)
should be followed by all ERC funded researchers on a voluntary basis
Special Clause 39 ERC:
legally binding
addressing beneficiary
no reference to research data
systematically included in Grants resulting from calls onwards (i.e. ERC grants from calls in 2007 – not affected by the Special Clause)

13. What does "best effort" in Special Clause 39 ERC mean? (1)
‘Best effort’ formulation strongly encourages researchers and publishers to comply while guaranteeing scientific and academic freedom.
Detailed instructions on how to fulfil the ‘best effort’ requirement provided in the Guide to Intellectual Property Rules for FP7 projects.
Authors should seek information on publishing models and copyright/licensing policies of the journal(s) to which they plan to submit, and check compatibility with the maximum embargo of six months (see the SHERPA/RoMEO website

14. What does "best effort" in Special Clause 39 ERC mean? (2)
If publishers' policies do not allow compliance with Grant Agreement, authors should negotiate an amendment or request an authorisation to self- archive within the specific embargo period (model letters available on CORDIS).
If negotiations are unsuccessful, researchers should consider submitting to another journal (no obligation).
In case of non-compliance, beneficiaries must be able to demonstrate that they have made their "best effort", e.g. through a letter from the publisher stating refusal to allow compliance with the reasons for refusal).

15. Open Access support initiatives: ERC and Europe PubMed Central
Europe PMC - repository for LS domain with added services:
Linked to PubMed Central in USA (huge number of publications & users)
Large number of journals automatically upload author manuscripts or published version
Funded by group of 24 European funders including ERC
ERC grantees can request set-up of PI account and use manuscript deposition service to satisfy open access requirements
High degree of take-up (about 740 accounts set up , i.e. more than 50% of LS grantees, also some grantees from relevant panels in the PE and SH domain)

16. Open Access support initiatives: ERC and arXiv
arXiv – e-print server for PE domain:
Hosted at Cornell University
Long history as pre-print server for physics and mathematics
but: some development work needed to become fully suitable as OA repository – currently no possibility to encode embargo periods
Funded through Cornell University, Simons Foundation and group of about 170 institutions, mostly from US and Europe ("crowd funding")
ERC has recently joined the initiative and will propose enhancements to add value for ERC and ERC grantees

17. Social Sciences & Humanities
Great diversity and fragmentation across the Social Sciences and Humanities domain
No specific subject-based repository recommended so far
Monographs important means of publication (SSH specificity) – presenting particular challenges
ERC Open Access WG is following the debate; specific actions to support OA in the SH domain may be developed in the future

18. Open access – what is proposed for Horizon 2020 ?
OA pilot in FP7
'Best effort' to provide OA, during and after the project
7 areas
Scientific publications relating to foreground (ERC: including monographs)
Allowed embargos: 6/12 months (ERC: 6 months for all areas)
OA publishing costs
Eligible while project runs
OA mandate in Horizon 2020
Obligation to provide OA (during the project)
All areas of Horizon 2020
Peer-reviewed publications
Allowed embargos: 6/12 months
In addition: pilot for research data (taking into account commercial interests, privacy, security)
OA publishing costs
Eligible while project runs
Other options currently under discussion
Green OA
Gold OA

19. Pilot on Open Access to Research Data
Will take into account privacy, security issues, commercial interests
Issues to consider:
What data? (underlying data, raw data, metadata)
Where should data go?
Use and re-use / ownership
Not just Open Access: data-sharing and management
Need to create incentives for researchers
Public consultation 2 July 2013 – high level of interest (more than 100 participants) – Report and individual presentations available on EC website ( agenda/node/67533)

20. Open access in Horizon 2020 – implementation in ERC programme
ERC Open Access mandate in H2020
Peer-reviewed publications
Practical application of mandate to monographs yet to be decided
Allowed embargos: 6/12 months also for ERC projects
6 months for projects in LS and PE domain,
12 months in SH domain
ERC will NOT take part in the data pilot in 2014
May join at a later stage

21. Thank you for your attention!
Questions? Comments?