European Commission Communication on Access to Scientific Information

The European Commission has adopted a Communication on access to scientific information in the digital age. The Communication announces a series of measures on how the Commission will deal with open access in FP7 funded projects - and how it will use its funding programmes to improve the access to and the preservation of scientific information. The following measures will be adopted:

A. ACCESS TO COMMUNITY FUNDED RESEARCH RESULTS
– Costs for publishing, including open access publishing, defined as eligible costs in
Community funded research projects.
– Specific guidelines to be issued, within specific programmes, on the publication of articles
in open repositories.

B. CO-FUNDING THROUGH COMMUNITY PROGRAMMES
– Approximately €50 million for work on infrastructures, in particular digital repositories, in
2007-2008.
– Approximately €25 million for digital preservation and collaborative tools in 2007-2008.
– Approximately €10 million on access to and use of scientific information through
eContentplus programme.

C. INPUT FOR THE FUTURE POLICY DEBATE
– Study on the economic aspects of digital preservation.
– Funding of research on publication business models and on the scientific publication
system.

D. POLICY CO-ORDINATION AND DEBATE WITH STAKEHOLDERS
– Deliberations in the European Parliament and Council; further discussions with
stakeholders.
– Exchange of good practices for new models of access to, dissemination of, and
preservation of scientific information.

Related documents are available here - the Staff Working Paper is useful and comprehensive.