Open access to research 
data in an Open Science 
Context 
SYSLOG Training 
'Open Access Policies and Requirements to 
Publications and Research Data in Horizon 
2020'
September 2015 
Agenda 
Open Access to Publications in Horizon 2020
• Open Science and Open Access- the policy context
• Practical implementation
• Questions and Answers
Coffee break
Open Access to Research Data in Horizon 2020
• The Open Data Pilot: Policy context and update
• The Open Data Pilot: Practical implementation
• Questions and Answers
• Case study
OPENAIRE support
Final Q&A 2
Open Research Data (ORD) 
 ORD refers to making research data freely
available for reuse beyond the purpose for which
they were originally collected
 Making Research data freely available aid further
discovery, make scientific process more cost
efficient and reliable
 ORD is part of a broader change: data driven
science underpinning Open Science
Research and
Innovation
O
P
E
N 
S
C
I
E
N
C
E
OA Research data 
Data-intensive 
Science
Data-intensive Science
OA to 
research
publications
TDM
O
P
E
N
S
C
I
E
N
C
E
BIG DATA
OA to research data 
ORD “small” part 
of Open Data
Open Science
Competitiveness Council 29 May 2015
Member States have expressed their wish for the
development of a European Open Science Agenda
Council Conclusion, 29 May 2015:
CALLS for action to remove obstacles to wide access to
publicly funded research publications and underlying
data;
CALLS for actions addressing better data management
and, in this context, WELCOMES the Pilot on Open
Research Data under Horizon 2020;
In the context of the implementation of the European
Research Area (ERA), LOOKS FORWARD to the possible
development of action plans or strategies for open
science
5

Pilot on Open Research Data in H2020
Key questions:
• Which thematic areas are covered?
• What data is covered?
• What are the requirements?
• What about data management?
Pilot on Open Research Data in H2020
Areas of the 2016-2017 Work Programme participating in the Open
Research Data Pilot are:
• Future and Emerging Technologies
• Research infrastructures – (new: coverage of the whole area)
• Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Information and
Communication Technologies
• Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and
Processing, and Biotechnology: ‘nanosafety’ and ‘modelling’ topics
(new)
• Societal Challenge: Food security, sustainable agriculture and
forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the
bioeconomy - selected topics as specified in the work programme
(new)
• Societal Challenge: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency
and Raw materials – except raw materials
Pilot on Open Research Data in H2020 
cont.
• Societal Challenge: Europe in a changing world – inclusive,
innovative and reflective Societies
• Science with and for Society
• Cross-cutting activities - focus areas – part Smart and Sustainable
Cities (moved from Energy WP)
Projects in other areas are encouraged to participate on a 
voluntary basis!
Projects may opt in a series of cases, at any stage
• If the project will not generate / collect any data
• Conflict with obligation to protect results
• Conflict with confidentiality obligations
• Conflict with security obligations
• Conflict with rules on protection of personal data
• If the achievement of the action’s main objective would be 
jeopardised by making specific parts of the research data 
openly accessible (to be explained in data management 
plan)
Approach: as open as possible, as closed as necessary
Pilot on Open Research Data in H2020
Pilot on Open Research Data in H2020
Types of data concerned:
• Data needed to validate the results presented in scientific 
publications ("underlying data")
• Other data as specified in data management plan (=up to projects)
Beneficiaries participating in the Pilot will:
• Deposit this data in a research data repository of their choice
• Take measures to make it possible to access, mine, exploit, 
reproduce and disseminate free of charge
• Provide information about tools and instruments at the disposal of 
the beneficiaries and necessary for validating the results (where 
possible, provide the tools and instruments themselves)
EC: Support & monitoring (Annotated MGA, Specific guidance etc…) 
Data management Plans in Horizon 
2020
• Data Management Plans (DMPs) mandatory for all projects
participating in the Pilot, optional for others
• DMPs are NOT part of the proposal evaluation, they need to be
generated within the first 6 months of the project and updated as
needed
• All proposers to submit general information on data management -
evaluated under criterion 'Impact'
• DMP questions:
•What data will be collected / generated?
•What standards will be used / how will metadata be generated?
•What data will be exploited? What data will be shared / made open?
•How will data be curated and preserved?
ORD Pilot: a chance to co-shape policy
• Opening up research data: the new frontier
• Ambitious, yet pragmatic design of the pilot: broad scope, opt-
out, voluntary participation possible
• Pilot is flexible; numerous safegards in place
• Aim: kick-starting a virtous circle
• Uptake of and experiences with the Pilot need to be monitored
during the complete life cycle of a project: from application, to
grant preperation, execution and final reporting
• Participating in the Pilot means co-shaping European
policy on opening up research data
Forms on the participant portal
ORD Pilot: take-up in first calls of H2020
• Basis: 3699 Horizon 2020 signed grant agreements
• Calls in core-areas: opt out 34,6% (149/431)
 In other words 65,4% of projects in the core areas
participate in the ORD pilot.
• Other areas: voluntary opt in 11,9% (409/3268)
 Limited divergence from 2014 proposal figures but larger
dataset used
 Note that 100% participation is not feasible or even desirable
(e.g. not all projects generate data)
ORD Pilot: opt-out reasons among
proposals
17,85
35,375,32
16,35
7,79
8,71
no data generated
IPR protection
confidentiality
privacy
jeopardize main objective
other
ORD Pilot: approach to data management 
among proposals
38,7
38,4
22,9 data management plan
work package
other
Ongoing coordination and support 
actions (FP7 funded)
PASTEUR4OA (Open Access Policy Alignment Strategies for European 
Union Research) Started 2014
FOSTER (Foster Open Science Training for European Research) 
Started 2014
RECODE - (Policy Recommendations for Open Access to Research 
Data in Europe) – 2013, finishing 
OpenAIRE/OpenAIRE+: supporting the implementation of Open 
Access in Europe (publications and data)
Infrastructure projects (with OA components), e.g. GEO/GEOSS, 
ELIXIR, EUDAT, CLARIN etc… 
Contacts DG RTD
Functional mailbox: 
RTD-OPEN-ACCESS@ec.europa.eu
Ressources
List of research data repositories: http://www.re3data.org/
OpenAIRE: www.openaire.eu
http://zenodo.org
Data Management Plan:
Digital Curation Centre 
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/, http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data-
management-plans
H2020 guidance
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manu
al/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-pilot-guide_en.pdf
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manu
al/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf
We welcome your input
Twitter:
@OpenAccessEC