THE REQUIREMENTS OF HORIZON 2020 REGARDING OPEN ACCESS AND OPEN DATA
Briefly the H2020 Open Access (OA) policy1:
 Is mandatory for peer-reviewed publications;
 Is mandatory for Green OA:
o Researchers publish as usual in subscription-based journals;
o Researchers place copy of peer-reviewed publications in repositories, at the latest
upon publication;
 Sees payments for OA journal publication (Gold OA) as eligible for grant expenditure; 
 Does not favour either Gold or Green OA;
 Requires  open  access  via  a  repository  to  the  bibliographic  metadata  that  identify  the
deposited publication;
 Is silent as regards monographs;
 Is definite on data, announcing an open data pilot for H20202.
In the ‘Recommendation on Access to and Preservation of Scientific Information3’ and the H2020 OA 
policy4, the EC recommends that Member States:
 Develop OA policies;
 Ensure consistency between Member States and H2020 OA policy;
 Promote coordination at EU level;
 Report on progress at MS and EU level;
 Establish multi-stakeholder dialogue. 
The rationale to promote OA policy alignment in Member States is to:
 Iron out dissonances for researchers working in interdisciplinary areas or on international 
teams;
 Support the EU harmonisation agenda for ERA (research conditions, researcher mobility, 
etc.); 
 Change authors’ practices and norms;
 Allow generic infrastructural services to be established in support of policy.
The H2020 OA policy recognises:
1 Mafalda Picarra. London Meeting of National Experts Summary: Working Together to Promote Open Access 
Policy Alignment in Europe.  PASTEUR4OA, 2015.  Available at: 
http://www.pasteur4oa.eu/sites/pasteur4oa/files/resource/Meeting%20of%20national%20experts
%20summary%20FINAL.pdf.
2 Guidelines on Data Management in Horizon 2020.  European Commission, 2015.  Available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-
mgt_en.pdf?utm_source=Pipeline+Newsletter&utm_campaign=783525c38d-
Pipeline_January_201401&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a11772394f-783525c38d-.
3 Recommendation on Access to and Preservation of Scientific Information.  European Commission, 2012.  
Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/recommendation-
access-and-preservation-scientific-information_en.pdf.
4 Guidelines on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Research Data in Horizon 2020.  European 
Commission, 2013.  Available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-pilot-
guide_en.pdf.
 Coordination across the EU;
 28 Member States (some of which already have policies of their own);
 Some countries have centres of expertise, many do not;
 Some countries may welcome support, others may happily offer support;
 Co-ordination is key.
As regards research data:
 The 2012 European Commission recommendation on access to and preservation of scientific 
information states that: “open access to scientific research data enhances data quality, 
reduces the need for duplication of research, speeds up scientific progress and helps to 
combat scientific fraud”.5
 Research data are defined as the data, files, and other records, produced in research or that 
evidences and validates research results, or more specifically as units of information: facts or 
numbers used as the basis for reasoning and calculation.6
An OA Policy Alignment Checklist has been produced by the PASTEUR4OA Project 
(http://pasteur4oa.eu/resources).  It enables institutions and funders to measure their compliance 
with the requirements of the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Multi-beneficiary General Model 
Grant Agreement (http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/mga/gga/h2020-mga-
gga-multi_en.pdf).
More materials on the context and content of the H2020 Open Access mandate, and how to comply 
with it, are provided in another FOSTER short course: Open Access to Publications in Horizon 2020 
(https://www.fosteropenscience.eu/content/open-access-publications-horizon-2020  ).
David Ball
January 2016
5 European Commission 2012 recommendation on access to and preservation of scientific information: 
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/recommendation-access-and-
preservation-scientific-information_en.pdfrecommendation-access-and-preservation-scientific-
information_en.pdf
6 Guidelines on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Research Data in Horizon 2020: 
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-pilot-
guide_en.pdf