Open access 
requirements and 
Open Research 
Data Pilot in H2020 
Liisa Ewart 
Legal Counsel, Tekes 
Legal & Financial NCP, H2020 
11.5.2015 
YEAR 2015 
DM #1455920 
 
Europe 2020 Stategy & Flagship initiatives 
 
Innovation Union Commitment no 20 
 
” The Commission will promote open access to the results of publicly 
funded research. It will aim to make open access to publications the 
general principle for projects funded by the EU research 
Framework Programmes.  
The Commission will also support the development of smart research 
information services that are fully searchable and allow results from 
research projects to be easily accessed.” 
 
 
 
SEC(2010)1161 
 
02-2014 DM 
 
 
Open Access pilot in FP7 
• Through the Special Clause 39 
 
Open Access for Scientific Publications mandatory 
in Horizon 2020 
• In General Model Grant Agreement  
• Art. 29.2 Open access to scientific publications 
 
Open Access for Research Data pilot in Horizon 
2020 
• Art. 29.3 Open access to research data (option)  
 
=> FP 9, year 2021 onwards? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Why Open Access? 
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Economic growth 
Better science 
Greater efficiency 
Improved transparency 
MGA Art. 29  
Dissemination of results – Open Access – 
Visibility of EU funding 
1. Obligation to disseminate the results swiftly 
• NOTE: obligation to protect the results 
2. Open access to scientific publications 
– Free of charge 
– Online access 
– For any user 
3. Open access to research data (pilot) 
4. Obligation and right to use the EU emblem 
 
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Note:  
Results  
≠  
Scientific 
publication 
Open access to scientific publications 
a) Deposit a machine-readable electronic copy of the published version 
or final peer-reviewed  
b) Ensure open access to the deposit publication 
– On publication, if an electronic copy is available for free via the 
publisher 
– Within 6 months of publication (12 months social sciences and 
humanities) 
c) Ensure open access to the bibliographic metadata 
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Note:  
Green open access = self-archiving and  
Gold open access = open access publishing  
are both applicable 
What kind of repository is ok? 
• A repository is an online archive 
– Institutional 
– Subject-based  
– Centralised 
– …are all acceptable choices. 
• Beneficiaries should not choose a repository which 
– Claims rights over deposited publications and 
– Precludes access 
• Commission recommends OpenAIRE as an entry point for 
researchers 
 
 
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Open access to research data 
• 'Research data' refers to information, in particular facts or numbers, 
collected to be examined and considered and as a basis for 
reasoning, discussion, or calculation. In a research context, 
examples of data include statistics, results of experiments, 
measurements, observations resulting from fieldwork, survey 
results, interview recordings and images. The focus is on research 
data that is available in digital form.  
• Source: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-pilot-
guide_en.pdf 
a) Deposit in a research data repository 
- The data, including metadata to validate the results 
- Data management plan 
b) Provide information about tools and instruments for validating the 
results 
 
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Guidelines available 
in Participant Portal – 
Reference documents