Green Open Access on the move | Open Science

"Green Open Access (self-archiving) is a growing trend in publishing and disseminating research results. Almost every university and research institution now has its own repository for scientific articles. Yet, the biggest barrier to Green Open Access is still the time embargo on publishing – a consequence of which some articles are delayed by one or two years. Although more and more researchers publish their results almost immediately, the time embargo is still a significant brake on the development of Green Open Access. Fortunately, it is becoming more common to try to eliminate this barrier, or at least to reduce the practice. In this spirit, the European Research Council (ERC) has recently announced that 'An electronic copy of any research article, monograph or other research publication that is supported in whole, or in part, by ERC funding be deposited in a suitable repository immediately upon publication. Open access should be provided as soon as possible and in any case no later than six months after the official publication date. For publications in the Social Sciences and Humanities domain a delay of up to twelve months is acceptable.' Although, the time embargo has not been eliminated, the ERC has set a clear time frame for publishing research supported by funds from the ERC. So, a clear approach to the problem and a voice of support for Open Access from this organization is extremely important. Even more important is the recent change in law in Argentina, since it has been introduced by the state legislature. Argentina’s Senate passed a law that requires all publicly-funded research to be made open access within 6 months of publication. This applies to researchers, scientists, faculty, doctoral and master students, who will be required to submit a copy of the final version of research to a repository specially designed for this purpose. These two examples, among many others, show that self-archiving (Green Open Access), is slowly becoming the standard when it comes to sharing the results of research. Although there is still need for immediate OA, it is good to see that more and more institutions, and even governments, put in regulations that promote Open Access."