As negotiations proceed to shape the next installment of Europe's gargantuan research funding programs, scientists, librarians, and publishers are eagerly
awaiting the answer to a critical question: How strong will the new 7-year program, called Horizon 2020, be on Open Access (OA)?
The European Commission has said that making the research it funds widely available is one of its priorities; its
proposal for the rules of participation and dissemination in Horizon 2020 says that the program will have "dedicated support to dissemination (including through open access to research results), communication and dialogue
actions" and that "open access shall apply under the terms and conditions laid down in the grant agreement." Last week, the commission's director-general
of research and innovation at the commission, Robert-Jan Smits, said in an interview in the Times Higher Education that open access, which typically involves making research papers freely available within months or a year of publication,
"will be the norm" for research funded through Horizon 2020. "With our €80 billion we can make one hell of a difference," Smits said.
What that will mean exactly is still unclear, however, and the topic of much lobbying and speculation. OA advocates say a clear mandate to make all
E.U.-funded papers publicly available would be hugely significant, and would be another step in what they hope is a complete transition to OA. "We very
much welcome" Smits's comments, says Alma Swan, Director of European Advocacy of SPARC, an international alliance of academic and research libraries
promoting open access.
Horizon 2020, the successor of the current Framework Programme 7 (FP7), will start in 2014 and run through 2020;
the commission has proposed to spend €80 billion on its three themes, dubbed excellent science, industrial leadership, and societal challenges. The entire program, including the budget, will be voted on by the European Parliament and European science ministers in November.
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