Facilitate Open Science Training for European Research
Developing and supporting open access policies in research 
institutions: why, how and who!
Victoria Tsoukala, PhD*National Documentation Centre/NHRF
What is open access?
Free of charge online provision of scientific 
information on the internet for lawful reuse
What scientific information? Mstly publications and data
Many definitions, but seminal ones:
• Berlin Declaration 
http://openaccess.mpg.de/Berlin-Declaration   (2003)
• Budepest Declaration (open access initiative) 
http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read   
(2002)
What are the benefits of open 
access?
• Access, access, access!!
• Intensifies research 
• Paves new paths for research
• Fosters innovation and economic development
• Contributes to social development by enabling the citizens
•More transparent system for scholarly communication
• Cheaper than the subscription-based system, new economic 
models (OA is not free, but apparently costs less than what 
we pay now)
• Overall more than provides return on investment by funders and 
institutions
• Publicly funded research should be accessible to all
What’s in it for me, the author 
of work?
• Open access makes my work more visible, more 
impactful
• Open access will help preserve my work 
• Open access encourages collaborative work and 
helps me develop new research connections 
across the world
• I can’t work without open access!!!!
What do we mean by university open 
access policy?
• An official university document that requires 
researchers to deposit and make available in open 
access their research publications (primarily the 
peer-reviewed ones)
• Open access to research data usually a separate policy on 
research data management
• The requirement is most usually for open access 
through an institutional repository
Policy elements
• Kinds of research outputs to be deposited 
• version of outputs to be deposited 
• where to deposit
• date of deposit
• deposit exemptions
• date to make deposited outputs available on open access 
• embargo length 
• licensing conditions 
• kinds of research outputs to be published in open access 
form
• where to publish (open access and/or hybrid journals)
• funding for publication costs 
• and conditions on use of publication funds  
Open access policies for universities: 
Benefits
• Αlign with university mission, part of which is 
widely to share research outputs
• Helps manage and preserve research
• Affords Higher accessibility to research output 
through repository
• Helps showcase research of university
• Align with European Commission and Horizon 
2020 requirements and the practices of the most 
prestigious research institutions around the globe
Screenshot policies or Roarmap 
How to prepare for an OA policy
• Assessment of international policies. Position organization
• Internal institutional dialogue. Involve all stakeholders, involve 
policymakers, identify champions
• E-infrastructure, i.e. repository for Open Access. Collaborate. 
Economies of scale
• Policy Content Development. Develop policy with clear roles and 
responsibilities 
• Guidance, training, support for the researchers. Seminars, webinars, 
personalized
• Provision of incentives and rewards to researchers. Repository added-
value services
• Policy implementation and compliance monitoring mechanism(s). 
Through repository
• Resources for long term sustainability. Institutional commitment. 
Shared resources.
• Consult for more detail
• Practical Information for Research Performing Organisations on  
Policy Development, Implementation, Effectiveness and Alignment 
http://pasteur4oa.eu/sites/pasteur4oa/files/resource/
From_policy_development_to_effectiveness_and_alignment.pdf 
Characteristics of effective 
policies 
• They are mandatory
• They are linked to evaluation 
• PASTEUR4OA finds that these policies are few
• Templates for such institutional policies for you to 
copy and modify through PASTEUR4OA work 
http://pasteur4oa.eu/resources 
Introduction
Arguments
Process
Checklist
Policy Template (Model)
Please copy freely! 
PASTEUR4OA project
Facilitating open access policies in Europe
http://www.pasteur4oa.eu  
PASTEUR4OA resources
Policies for open access to research 
data
Brief version available online
Interactive version
http://policy.recodeproject.eu
The who!
• Library
• Usually the initiators of policy and repository
• Repository support (often collaboration with IT)
• Awareness-raising, training
• Assist with monitoring
• Higher administration
• Support policy development
• Pass policy
• Review policy if necessary
• Financial support
• Researchers
• To be involved in deliberations (representatives)
• To chose policy champions
• Deposit their work willingly (if so at high rates, a success of policy)
On Cyprus
• Doing already great job!
• Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate! 
• Collaborative infrastructures- talk to OpenAIRE, 
COAR to learn from them
• Aligned policies among Cypriot institutions based 
on good practices
THANK YOU!
tsoukala@ekt.gr