National open access and preservation policies in Europe / Analysis of a questionnaire to the European Research Area Committee

Executive summary

…

Open access to other publicly-funder research results

While the debate on open access has up to now focused on scholarly literature, research data (be they numerical, graphical,audio, video files, etc.) and the general objective of gaining open access to data (“Open Data”) is increasingly in the spotlight : Open Data. The importance of research data is likely to grow in the coming years as information society tools have made it possible to access data directly, and because new information services are combining journal articles and data, hence applying new search techniques such as data mining. There are already many policies from research funding agencies covering the accessibility of data created during work they have funded, and the number is expected to grow. Further developments are linked with e-science infrastructures and with relevant intellectual property rights issues. Policies on open access to research data remain less developed than policies on open access to publications, but the general concern for unlocking the full value of scientific data is growing, as reported in the 2010 Final report of the High Level Expert Group on Scientific Data ‘Riding the wave: How Europe can gain from the rising tide of scientific data’. Several respondents referred to European projects such as EUROPEANA and e-infrastructures, activities that are typically covered in the Commission by the Directorate-General for Information Society and Media (DG INFSO). Some respondents also mentioned activities in the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), which is a centre for research and services in bioinformatics that manages databases of biological data and provides free access to all its data resources. Less in the public eye than publications and data are doctoral and masters theses. Open access to this highly valuable resource is progressing rapidly in Europe and is encountering fewer obstacles than publications and data.

…