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Document 32018H0790
Commission Recommendation (EU) 2018/790 of 25 April 2018 on access to and preservation of scientific information
Commission Recommendation (EU) 2018/790 of 25 April 2018 on access to and preservation of scientific information
Commission Recommendation (EU) 2018/790 of 25 April 2018 on access to and preservation of scientific information
C/2018/2375
OJ L 134, 31.5.2018, p. 12–18
(BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)
31.5.2018 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
L 134/12 |
COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION (EU) 2018/790
of 25 April 2018
on access to and preservation of scientific information
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 292 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) |
The European Commission adopted in July 2012 a scientific information package, consisting of the communication ‘Towards better access to scientific information: Boosting the benefits of public investments in research’ (1), and of Commission Recommendation 2012/417/EU (2). Recommendation 2012/417/EU states that the Commission will review the progress made across the Union to assess whether further action is needed to achieve the objectives laid down. |
(2) |
The communication ‘A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe’ (3) highlights the importance of data dissemination as a catalyst for economic growth, innovation and digitisation across all economic sectors, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (and start-ups) and for society as a whole. It recognises that big data and high-performance computing are changing the way research is performed and knowledge is shared, as part of a transition towards a more efficient and responsive open science (4). It announces that the Commission would encourage access to public data to help drive innovation and work towards a research open science cloud as part of the European Cloud Initiative. In its mid-term review of the Digital Single Market Strategy (5), the Commission announces its intention to further improve the ‘accessibility and re-use of public and publicly funded data’. |
(3) |
The communication on the European Cloud Initiative ‘Building a competitive data knowledge and economy in Europe’ (6) presents the rational and broad plan for developing the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) as a trusted, open environment for the scientific community for storing, sharing and re-using scientific data and results. It also announces the Commission would review Recommendation 2012/417/EU on access to and preservation of scientific information to encourage scientific data sharing and the creation of incentive schemes, rewards systems and education and training programmes for researchers and businesses to share data. The Staff Working Document ‘Implementation Roadmap for the EOSC’ (7) presents the results of the exploration with Member States and stakeholders of possible governance and financing mechanisms for the EOSC and further details the action lines for developing the EOSC as a federation of research data infrastructures. |
(4) |
Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (8) establishes the principle that all accessible data held by a public sector body need to also be re-useable for commercial and non-commercial purposes by all interested parties under non-discriminatory conditions for comparable categories of re-use and at the marginal cost linked to the distribution of the data, at maximum. |
(5) |
Open access (9) policies aim to provide researchers and the public at large with access to peer-reviewed scientific publications, research data and other research outputs free of charge in an open and non-discriminatory manner as early as possible in the dissemination process, and enable the use and re-use of scientific research results. Open access helps enhance quality, reduce the need for unnecessary duplication of research, speed up scientific progress, help to combat scientific fraud, and can overall favour economic growth and innovation. Beside open access, data management planning is becoming a standard scientific practice. |
(6) |
Open access is a means of dissemination for researchers who may decide to publish their work, in particular in the context of publicly-funded research. Licensing solutions should aim at facilitating the dissemination and re-use of scientific publications. |
(7) |
Preservation of scientific research results is in the public interest. It has traditionally been under the responsibility of libraries or archives, especially national legal deposit libraries. The volume of research results generated is constantly growing. Mechanisms, infrastructures and software solutions should be in place to enable long-term preservation of research results in digital form. Sustainable funding for preservation is crucial as curation costs for digitised content are still relatively high. Given the importance of preservation for the future use of research results, the establishment or reinforcement of policies in this area should be recommended to Member States. |
(8) |
Technological progress has allowed for the creation of web-based research infrastructures set up by national governments, universities or research organisations. They support the objectives of this Recommendation by helping researchers to manage the results of their research and enabling dissemination. The communication on the European Cloud Initiative announced that ‘the European Open Science Cloud will start by federating existing scientific data infrastructures, today scattered across disciplines and Member States.’ It is appropriate to identify and recommend the measures at national level that should enable proper functioning and use of the EOSC. |
(9) |
Technological progress has over time caused a major shift in the world of science towards increasingly collaborative methods, and has steadily contributed to an increasing volume of scientific material. In a scientific approach that is becoming increasingly collaborative and transparent, it should be ensured that researchers at all stages of their education and career have access to professional development, including through higher education programmes. They should also have the possibility to develop the appropriate skills to fully engage with open science, as outlined by the ‘Digital Education Action Plan’ (10). |
(10) |
Incentives and rewards are important aspects in a professional career. Although researchers are encouraged to move across borders, disciplines and sectors, and to participate in the culture of sharing their results, this is often not rewarded or reflected in their professional career development. Transparent and responsible indicators are being developed to support the implementation of open science practices in modern universities. Upgraded rewarding mechanisms that take into account new generation metrics could be used to better measure the quality of European research and provide a valuable incentive for researchers to share the result of their research, and for universities to become more entrepreneurial while fostering competition within the internal market. |
(11) |
Member States should continue to support open science and open access, as stated in the Council Conclusions on ‘open, data-intensive and networked research as a driver for faster and wider innovation’ (11) and on ‘the transition towards an open science system’ (12). |
(12) |
The move towards open access is a worldwide endeavour. Member States have been part of this endeavour and should be supported in enhancing an open, collaborative research environment based on reciprocity at a global level. Open science is a key feature of Member States' policies for responsible research and for open innovation. As new digital technologies become available, research and funding policies should adapt to this new environment. |
(13) |
The Commission has been leading by example to maximise access to and re-use of research results generated in an open science environment, including in the Framework Programmes, and by applying an open data policy to the research data of the Commission's Joint Research Centre. |
(14) |
There have been many advances in the areas dealt with in Recommendation 2012/417/EU and in the other documents listed in the preceding recitals, but not all targets have been met and progress has been uneven among Member States. A greater effort by all Member States is needed in order to make the most of Europe's research and innovation potential. |
(15) |
This Recommendation builds on and replaces Recommendation 2012/417/EU, |
HAS ADOPTED THIS RECOMMENDATION:
Open access to scientific publications
1. |
Member States should set and implement clear policies (as detailed in national action plans) for the dissemination of and open access to scientific publications resulting from publicly funded research. Those policies and action plans should provide for:
Member States should ensure, in compliance with the EU acquis on copyright and related rights, that as a result of these policies or action plans:
|
2. |
Member States should ensure that research funding institutions responsible for managing public research funding and academic institutions receiving public funding implement the policies and national action plans referred to in point 1 at national level in a coordinated way by:
|
Management of research data, including open access
3. |
Member States should set and implement clear policies (as detailed in national action plans) for the management of research data resulting from publicly funded research, including open access. Those policies and action plans should provide for:
Member States should ensure that, as a result of these policies or action plans:
|
4. |
Member States should ensure that research funding institutions responsible for managing public research funding and academic institutions receiving public funding implement the policies and national action plans referred to in point 3 at national level in a coordinated way by:
|
Preservation and re-use of scientific information
5. |
Member States should set and implement clear policies (as detailed in national action plans) for reinforcing the preservation and re-use of scientific information (publications, data sets and other research outputs). Those policies and action plans should provide for:
Member States should ensure that, as a result of those policies or action plans:
|
Infrastructures for open science
6. |
Member States should set and implement clear policies (as detailed in national action plans) for further developing infrastructures underpinning the system for access to, preservation, sharing and re-use of scientific information and for promoting their federation within the EOSC. Those policies and action plans should provide for:
Member States should ensure that, as a result of these policies or national action plans:
|
7. |
Member States should ensure synergies among national infrastructures, with the EOSC and other global initiatives by:
|
Skills and competences
8. |
Member States should set and implement clear policies (as detailed in national action plans) for the necessary skills and competences of researchers and personnel of academic institutions regarding scientific information. Those policies and action plans should provide for:
Member States should ensure that, as a result of those policies or action plans:
|
Incentives and rewards
9. |
Member States should set and implement clear policies (as detailed in national action plans) for adjusting, with regards to scientific information, the recruitment and career evaluation system for researchers, the evaluation system for awarding research grants to researchers, and the evaluation systems for research performing institutions. Those policies and action plans should provide for:
Member States should ensure that, as a result of those policies or action plans:
|
Multi-stakeholder dialogue on open science at national, European and international level
10. |
Member States should participate in multi-stakeholder dialogues on the transition towards open science at national, European and international level on each of the issues addressed in points 1 to 9.
Member States should ensure that:
|
Structured coordination of Member States at Union level and follow-up to this Recommendation
11. |
Member States should have a national point of reference the tasks of which would be:
|
12. |
Member States should inform the Commission 18 months from the publication of this Recommendation in the Official Journal of the European Union, and every two years thereafter, of action taken in response to the elements of this Recommendation. On that basis, the Commission should review the progress made across the Union to assess whether further action is needed to achieve the objectives proposed in this Recommendation. |
Done at Brussels, 25 April 2018.
For the Commission
Mariya GABRIEL
Member of the Commission
Carlos MOEDAS
Member of the Commission
(1) COM(2012) 401 final of 17 July 2012
(2) Commission Recommendation 2012/417/EU of 17 July 2012 on access to and preservation of scientific information (OJ L 194, 21.7.2012, p. 39).
(3) COM(2015) 192 final of 6 May 2015.
(4) Open science refers to a new approach to the scientific process based on cooperative work and new ways of disseminating knowledge, improving accessibility to and re-usability of research outputs by using digital technologies and new collaborative tools.
(5) COM(2017) 228 final of 10 May 2017.
(6) COM(2016) 178 final of 19 April 2016.
(7) SWD(2018) 83 final of 14 March 2018.
(8) Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the re-use of public sector information (OJ L 345, 31.12.2003, p. 90).
(9) Open access refers to the possibility to access and re-use digital research outputs with as few restrictions as possible.
(10) COM(2018) 22 final.
(11) Council Conclusions 9360/15 of 29 May 2015.
(12) Council Conclusions 9526/16 of 27 May 2016.