On October 7th 2016, the French Law for a Digital Republic Act (LOI n° 2016-1321 du 7 octobre 2016 pour une République numérique) came into force, following a one year open review process during which the draft law could be improved by citizens. This law introduces new provisions to regulate the digital economy, online cooperative economy, data protection and access to the internet. Two articles are of specific concern for scholarly communication, as they relate directly to open access...

A guest post by Dawn HibbertOpen Access Advocacy Librarian, University of StrathclydeEmbargo periods set by publishers continue to undermine, or at best, delay open access (access to scholarly research without having paid a subscription or cost to access).  Whist publishers have been quick to argue that without embargo periods libraries would no longer purchase subscriptions to their journals, and that it could potentially eat into profits due to the journals perceived “shelf life” this does not...

The Research Data Alliance (RDA) and the International Council for Science World Data System (ICSU-WDS) today announced a new global framework for linking publications and datasets. The Scholix framework (Scholarly Link Exchange) represents a set of aspirational principles and practical guidelines to support a global information ecosystem around links between scholarly literature and research data. The framework aims for a seamless exchange of information about literature and related data, there...

Alberto Cabezas Bullemore, Executive Secretary, LA Referencia & RedCLARA. Email: ’s mission is to foster the social and technological links that enable Open Science in Europe and beyond. Recognizing that research is increasingly global and that OpenAIRE’s solutions must work within the wider world ecosystem, one of the main goals in this phase of OpenAIRE is to increase interoperability by promoting technological alignment between regions and facilitating ...

Alberto Cabezas Bullemore, Executive Secretary, LA Referencia & RedCLARA. Email: ’s mission is to foster the social and technological links that enable Open Science in Europe and beyond. Recognizing that research is increasingly global and that OpenAIRE’s solutions must work within the wider world ecosystem, one of the main goals in this phase of OpenAIRE is to increase interoperability by promoting technological alignment between regions and facilitating ...

On the 25th of February 2016, the Council of ministers of the Republic of Cyprus, approved the adoption of the National policy for Open Access in Cyprus. The document's approval was the outcome of a tremendous collaboration between the different stakeholders involved in the Working Group for Open Access (consisting of the NPR for OA, local Academic institutions and national funders), coordinated by the OPENAIRE2020 Cyprus NOAD (University of Cyprus Library) and highly supported by the coord...

Open Access was in the spotlight during the PASTEUR4OA (Open Access Policy Alignment Strategies for European Union Research) Final Conference “Green Light for Open Access”. The Conference was an event officially associated with the Dutch EU Presidency and attracted some 150 experts from research funding and research performing organisations, publishers, and national policy makers across Europe. It also attracted significant attention on Twitter (#greenlight4oa) with more than 1500 tweets. PASTEU...

OpenAIRE welcomes the adoption of the Guidelines for Open Access to Research Results, Research Council of Lithuania The Research Council of Lithuania adopted Guidelines for Open Access to Research Results (resource in Lithuanian) on 29 February 2016. The Guidelines include open access (OA) and open research data policy that are fully aligned with the Horizon 2020 (H2020) OA mandate and Open Research Data Pilot, and the July 2012 European Commission recommendations on access to and...

PASTEUR4OA (Open Access Policy Alignment Strategies for European Union Research) places strong focus on engaging with national policymakers to inform and assist them in developing and/or reinforcing Open Access policies and to emphasize the importance of aligning national institutional and funder policies with the European Commission’s Recommendation towards member states of 2012 on Open Access and preservation of scientific information and the Horizon 2020 framework to ensure Open Access to all...

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia has adopted the National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015-2020 on 3 September 2015. The Slovenian and English versions are available at the Ministry web page. OpenAIRE and PASTEUR4OA , together with project partner EIFL, provided a joint submission to support the National strategy during the public consultation process. The National Strategy provides a good-practice example of a fully aligne...

The future development of the European Research Area (ERA) was discussed at the conference A new start for Europe: opening up to an ERA of innovation that was attended by more than 500 participants.The first day was dedicated to the Open Science, and the second day to the world-class research and innovation ecosystem for Europe and to the improvement of its framework conditions. In this report we present the current and planned activities of the European Commission on Open Science. The Competiti...

In January 2015, the RECODE project published its policy recommendations for open access to research data. The policy recommendations are targeted at key stakeholders in the scholarly communication ecosystem, namely research funders, research institutions, data managers and publishers and accompanied by ten overarching recommendations. The RECODE policy recommendations are expected to assist the above stakeholders in furthering the goals of open access to research data. The recommendations aim t...