New study shows the EU's success in open science policy

The European Commission released a new study Monitoring Open Access Policy for Horizon 2020, which shows impressive progress made in Open Science, paving the way for Horizon Europe.

The aim of the study was to examine, monitor, and quantify compliance with the open access requirements of Horizon 2020, for both publications and research data. With a steadily increase over the years and an average success rate of 83% open access to scientific publications, key findings indicate that the European Commission’s leadership in the Open Science policy has paid off, placing the European Union at the forefront globally. The first pillar of Horizon 2020 - Excellent Science has led the success story, with an open access rate of 86%. The leaders within this pillar are the European Research Council (ERC) and the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme, with open access rates of over 88%.

The study concludes with specific recommendations to improve the monitoring of compliance with the policy under Horizon Europe – which has a more stringent and comprehensive set of rights and obligations for Open Science.