Council of European Union Adopts Conclusions on Access, Dissemination & Preservation

Today the Council of the European Union adopted "Council Conclusions on scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation" during the 2832nd Competitiveness Council meeting held in Brussels on 22-23 November 2007.

The Council has issued clear invitations to member states and to the Commission to develop policies and actions on the dissemination of scientific and research information (including datasets) and on digital preservation. No sign of a mandate though...

The press version of the Conclusions can be accessed here

European petition for guaranteed public access to publicly-funded research results

A group of European organisations has launched a petition to the European Commission calling on it to support public access to research outputs shortly after their publication, guaranteeing open access to publicly funded research.

Organised by SPARC Europe, JISC, SURF, the German Research Foundation (DFG) and Denmark's Electronic Research Library (DEFF), the petition urges the Commission to follow the lead of other research funding agencies in mandating the publication of articles arising from EC-related funding after a given time period in open access archives. It also calls on the Commission to explore a European-wide approach to policies and practices surrounding the development of digital repositories as a means of making more visible the fruits of European research and maximising the return on public investment in research.

For further information on the petition, and to sign it, please go to: EC petition