Open Access News
European Commission backs calls for open access to scientific research
- Created on Thursday, 19 July 2012 16:02
This move follows the announcement by UK government that it wants all taxpayer-funded research to be free to view by 2014. The European Commission, which controls one of the world's largest science budgets, has backed calls for free access to publicly funded research in a move that could force a major change in the business model for publishers such as Reed Elsevier.
"Taxpayers should not have to pay twice for scientific research and they need seamless access to raw data," said Neelie Kroes, European Commission vice-president for digital agenda.
The EC said on Tuesday that open access will be a "general principle" applied to grants awarded through the €80bn Horizon 2020 programme for research and innovation.
From 2014 all articles produced with funding from Horizon 2020 will have to be accessible and the goal is for 60% of European publicly funded research to be available by 2016.