European Commission recommends that member states mandate open access to publicly-funded research

“From the EC's Draft Recommendation on access to and preservation of scientific information , signed by Neelie Kroes and Máire Geoghegan-Quinn: ‘The European Commission...hereby recommends that member states...Define clear policies for the dissemination of  and open access to  scientific publications resulting from publicly funded research....Ensure that, as a result of these policies:...there should be open access to  publications resulting from publicly funded research as soon as possible, preferably immediately and in any case no later than six months after the date of publication, and  twelve months for social sciences and humanities....Ensure that research funding institutions responsible for managing public research funding and academic institutions receiving public funding implement the policies....Define clear policies for the dissemination of  and open access to  research data resulting from publicly funded research....Ensure that, as a result of these policies: research data that result from publicly funded research become publicly accessible, usable and re-usable through digital e-infrastructures....’ Also see the two other related draft recommendations released today:  Draft Communication on a reinforced European Research Area partnership for excellence and growth, Draft Communication Towards better access to scientific information: Boosting the benefits of public investments in research, ... Update. Also see: [1] today's press release from the EC , [2] video of today's press conference , and  [3] Neelie Kroes' blog post summarizing the new initiatives ... Excerpt from today's press release from the EC :  ‘As a first step, the Commission will make open access to scientific publications a general principle of Horizon 2020, the EU's Research & Innovation funding programme for 2014-2020. As of 2014, all articles produced with funding from Horizon 2020 will have to be accessible: [1] articles will either immediately be made accessible online by the publisher ('Gold' open access) - up-front publication costs can be eligible for reimbursement by the European Commission; or [2] researchers will make their articles available through an open access repository no later than six months (12 months for articles in the fields of social sciences and humanities) after publication ('Green' open access). The Commission has also recommended that Member States take a similar approach to the results of research funded under their own domestic programmes. The goal is for 60% of European publicly-funded research articles to be available under open access by 2016.’”