Horizon 2020 Mandate on
Open Access to Publications 
This work is licensed under a 
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licens
e
Acknowledgment
Most slides of this presentation were originally 
prepared/presented by 
Birgit Schmidt
Goettingen State and University Library
bschmidt@sub.uni-goettingen.de
Overview
1. From FP7 to H2020
2. Summary of requirements 
3. Practical implementation
How was Open Access implemented in 
FP7?
• General framework: EC and ERC Guidelines
• Special Clause 39 in Grant Agreements 
– Best effort to achieve open access to publications
– Choice between the two routes: GREEN and GOLD OA
– Deposit in repository is obligatory (through author or 
publisher)
– Maximum embargo of 6 months (science, technology, 
medicine) and 12 months (humanities and social 
sciences)
• Support provided by OpenAIRE, IPR Helpdesk, 
others
• Support activities developed during the running of 
FP7 
Monitoring OA policies
91%
9%
SC39 in FP7
FP7
SC39
FP7 OA pilot evaluation 
What changes in Horizon2020?
• Update of Guidelines 
• New clauses in Grant Agreements 
– OA to publications is mandatory for all projects
– OA to data piloted for 7 selected areas
• Member States are requested to develop and align 
national OA policies and infrastructures
Grant Agreement: § 29.2 Open access 
to scientific publications
Each beneficiary must ensure open access (free of charge, online access for any 
user) to all peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to its results.
In particular, it must:
(a) as soon as possible and at the latest on publication, deposit a machine-readable
electronic copy of the published version or final peer-reviewed manuscript accepted
for publication in a repository for scientific publications;
Moreover, the beneficiary must aim to deposit at the same time the research data
needed to validate the results presented in the deposited scientific publications.
(b) ensure open access to the deposited publication — via the repository — at the latest:
(i) on publication, if an electronic version is available for free via the publisher, or
(ii) within six months of publication (twelve months for publications in the social
sciences and humanities) in any other case.
(c) ensure open access — via the repository — to the bibliographic metadata that identify
the deposited publication.
The bibliographic metadata must be in a standard format and must include all of the
following:
- the terms ["European Union (EU)" and "Horizon 2020"]["Euratom" and Euratom research and 
training programme 2014-2018"];
- the name of the action, acronym and grant number;
- the publication date, and length of embargo period if applicable, and
- a persistent identifier.
What are the general Open Access requirements and who is 
covered by them?
•All beneficiaries of H2020 funding 
must provide open access (free of 
charge, online access for any user) to 
all peer-reviewed publications by 
depositing them into a repository.
In other words...
• Authors are free to choose between the two main 
and non-exclusive routes toward Open Access
– Self-archiving (‚green‘ open access): the published 
article or the final peer reviewed manuscript is 
uploaded in an online repository – access is often 
delayed (‚embargo period‘)
– Open access publishing (‚gold‘ open access): the article 
is immediately in open access mode, through the 
publisher. The associated costs are covered by the 
author/institution/funder.
• The article must always be deposited in a 
repository, even if the gold route has been 
choosen.
Where to deposit?
• Institutional repository 
OR
•Disciplinary repository (arXiv, Europe PubMed Central, etc.)
OR
• Zenodo (www.zenodo.org) if none of the above is available – a EC-cofunded, 
multidisciplinary repository, for publications & data 
Remarks:
• Finding a repository via registries: ROAR http://roar.eprints.org/, OpenDOAR 
http://www.opendoar.org/ or via OpenAIRE (more details later)
• A list of publications on the project website is not sufficient. 
• How to bring all publications together? OpenAIRE-compatibility to enable the 
harvesting of metadata (more details later)
What to deposit?
• The final peer-reviewed manuscript, accepted for 
publication, including all modifications from the 
peer-review process
OR
• A machine-readable copy of the published version 
(usually a PDF document)
In principle this applies to all kinds of publications, 
but emphasis is on peer-reviewed journal articles. 
When to deposit?
• Each beneficiary must deposit as soon as 
possible and at the latest on publication.
When should open access be provided?
• Open access must be ensured immediately or after 
an embargo period:
– GREEN – 6-12 months depending on the research area 
and the choice of journal
– GOLD – immediately 
Some journals demand longer embargo periods of 
6-36 months (compare SHERPA/RoMEO database). 
OPEN 
ACCESS
Are there metadata requirements on repository deposition?
• Beneficiaries must ensure immediate open access 
to the bibliographic metadata that identify the 
deposited publication in a standard format and 
must include all of the following:
– the terms ["European Union (EU)" and "Horizon 2020"]
["Euratom" and Euratom research and training 
programme 2014-2018"];
– the name of the action, acronym and grant number;
– the publication date, and length of embargo period if 
applicable, and
– a persistent identifier.
Are Author Processing Charges (APCs) 
supported?
• Yes
• For open access publishing, researchers can 
publish in open access journals, or in journals that 
sell subscriptions and also offer the possibility of 
making individual articles openly accessible 
(hybrid journals).  
• Where the case, the Author Processing Charges 
(APCs) incurred by beneficiaries are eligible for 
reimbursement during the duration of the action.
What are the consequences for 
non-compliance with OA requirements?
• If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations, the 
grant may be reduced (Article 43) and it may also 
lead to any of the other measures described in 
Chapter 6 of the General Model Grant Agreement.
What are projects expected to do? 
• Projects have to start planning early on
• During proposal writing phase
– Outline of dissemination and exploitation strategy, including OA >> impact 
section of the proposal (how will results be shared, data be managed and 
shared?)
– Include resources for publication costs (what journals, how many publications, 
what does it cost on average?)
– Combine GREEN/GOLD strategies to achieve maximum of OA
• During the project 
– Additional provisions in the Consortium Agreement? (where to deposit, who is 
responsible)
– Implementation of the dissemination strategy, report at reviews and update
– What issues occur and how can they be solved? (publisher embargos, 
repositories for specific material, etc.)
• After the project end
– Are there publications foreseen after the ending of the project (ie which will not 
be covered by the budget) – for post-FP7 project publications there will be a 
gold OA pilot in H2020
– Who takes care of deposit in repositories after the project end?
Publication costs
Dissemination costs, e.g. for publishing in open access 
journals/books, are eligible costs if incurred during the 
project period.
What budget to consider in proposals?
APC = Article Processing Charges 
Budget for Publications = Average APC x number of publications
Method 1: Average APC based on list of journals used by the 
consortium (look up prices at publisher website and/or consult 
librarian)
Method 2: Average APC based on general market figures (see next 
slide)
What does it cost?
Björk/Solomon estimate the average price of Article 
Processing Charges (APC)
• for established open access journals at ca. 1,020 
EUR and 
• for hybrid journals (subscription journal with OA 
option for individual articles) at ca. 1,980 EUR
Both types of OA publication costs can be 
reimbursed in H2020 projects.
Currently, there is no price-cap for APCs. (For 
post-grant publications in FP7 a GOLD OA pilot is 
foreseen where a price-cap will likely apply.)
What practices, what issues?
1. Publishing all articles in APC based gold OA is not often the right 
solution, as this can lead to a substantial amount of the overall 
project budget. 
Therefore, a mixed strategy of GREEN/GOLD open access is 
highly recommended.
2. The growing open access market comes with some challenges
● Lots of new journals/publishers, some of questionable quality 
(‚predatory journals‘, http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/) 
● Glossy magazines seize the market opportunities too.
Some caution is needed when publishing, this holds for all 
journals. Consult ‚white lists‘ such as DOAJ. 
Thank you!
Questions?
eloy@sdum.uminho.pt
http://www.fosteropenscience.eu/