Number: 60300-5/2015/5
Date: 3 September 2015

NATIONAL STRATEGY OF OPEN ACCESS TOSCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH DATAIN SLOVENIA 2015−−2020

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

CONTENTS
1
FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR OPEN ACCESS TOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION

3

2

OPEN ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH DATA

5

2.1

Definition of open access to scientific publications and research data

5

2.1.1 Open access to scientific publications

5

2.1.2 Open access to research data

6

2.2

6

2.3

Decision regarding publication of results or protection of intellectual property
rightsChallenges of open access to scientific information

7

3

VISION AND GOALS OF OPEN ACCESS TO PEER-REVIEWEDPUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH DATA IN SLOVENIA

94PRINCIPLES OF OPEN ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS ANDRESEARCH DATA IN SLOVENIA

10

4.1

Open access to scientific information is in the interest of the society

10

4.2

Open access to scientific information is in the interest of the economy

10

4.3

Open access to scientific information is part of open science

10

4.4

Scientific information is national scientific heritage

10

4.5

Licensing scientific information with open access licenses enables the widest reuse of research results

11

4.6

Evaluation of science should encourage open access to scientific information

11

4.7

Appropriate funding is necessary to ensure sustainability of the national
infrastructure for open access to scientific information

11

4.8

Slovenian open access infrastructure is part of international infrastructures foropen access in science

11

5

POLITICAL AND LEGAL BASIS FOR MANDATES ON OPEN ACCESS TOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION IN SLOVENIA

13

6

MANDATE FOR OPEN ACCESS TO PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS INSLOVENIA

15

6.1

Deposit of publication in a repository

15

6.2

Ensuring open access to publication via the repository

16

6.3

Metadata

16

6.4

Article Processing Charges of an open access publication

17

6.5

Support for researchers and monitoring of compliance

17

7

PILOT PROGRAMME OPEN ACCESS TO RESEARCH DATA IN SLOVENIA

19

8OPEN ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND MONOGRAPHS,
PUBLISHED IN SLOVENIA

21

2

National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

1

FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR OPEN ACCESS TOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION

Scientific communication underwent no significant changes in the period prior to thebeginning of the 21st century. In articles, which are evaluated by peers (i.e., other scholars),
authors report about the research results that are mostly funded by public means. On theacceptance of article for publication they transfer their material copyright to the publisher thatenables access to the research results after the payment of journal subscription and limits
the use of figures, graphs and other parts of article in later publications with its permission.
The majority of researchers is employed by public organisations which have to enable
access to the latest achievements in science to their researchers through the payment ofjournal subscriptions. Research data is only selectively accessible in the traditional system ofscientific communication.
The European Commission has started with the first activities towards the modernisation ofscientific communication in 2004.1 It has set out mandatory open access to all peer-reviewed
publications from co-funded projects in the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for
Research and Innovation, which is being carried out in the period from 2014 till 2020. In 2014
and 2015, the Commission is implementing the open research data pilot. According to theEuropean Commission recommendations the EU Member States should enforce the same
mandates for national research funding. In such a way, open access to the results of publicly
funded research will be ensured in the whole European Research Area and further
development of open science enabled.2
Slovenia accedes to the adoption of open access mandates for scientific information, alignedwith the recommendations of the European Commission, with the present strategy. In doing
so, also the documents adopted by several EU Member States in accordance with theEuropean Commission recommendations are helpful: Spain3 (the law), Belgium,4 Ireland,5Portugal6 (national policies), Denmark,7 Sweden,8 Austria9 and Norway10 (funder mandates).
In MedOANet project, funded through the Seventh Framework Programme, therecommendations were prepared for the formation of open access policies.11 Through theSeventh Framework Programme, the European Commission has also funded the RECODE
project for the formation of policy recommendations for open access to research data in
1

Open Access Slovenia: mednarodna raven: pregled aktivnosti Evropske Unije, http://www.openaccess.si/mednarodnaraven/pregled-aktivnosti-evropske-unije/
2Consultation on »Science 2.0«: science in transition, https://ec.europa.eu/research/consultations/science2.0/consultation_en.htm
3
Recommendations for the implementation of Article 37 of the Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation Act: Open Access
Dissemination,
http://recolecta.fecyt.es/sites/default/files/contenido/documentos/Implantacion_Art37_AccesoAbierto_INGLES.pdf
4Brussels declaration on open access to Belgian publicly funded research,https://openaccessbelgium.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/brussels-declaration-on-open-access.pdf
5
Ireland: the transition to open access, http://www.pasteur4oa.eu/sites/pasteur4oa/files/resource/Ireland%20Case%20Study.pdf
6Portugal open access policy landscape,
http://www.pasteur4oa.eu/sites/pasteur4oa/files/resource/Portugal%20Case%20Study.pdf
7
Denmark's national strategy for Open Access, http://ufm.dk/en/research-and-innovation/cooperation-between-research-andinnovation/open-science/open-access-to-research-publications/engelsk-version-national-strategy-for-open-access.pdf
8Proposal for national guidelines for open access to scientific information, https://publikationer.vr.se/en/product/proposal-fornational-guidelines-for-open-access-to-scientific-information/
9
New Policy for Open Access and Publication Costs, http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/news-and-mediarelations/news/detail/nid/20141219-2097/
10
Education, research and open access in Norway,
http://www.pasteur4oa.eu/sites/pasteur4oa/files/resource/Norway%20Case%20Study_0.pdf
11
MedOANet guidelines for implementing open access policies: for research performing and research funding organizations,
http://medoanet.eu/sites/www.medoanet.eu/files/documents/MED2013_GUIDELine_dp_EN_ws.pdf

3National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

Europe.12 It is still funding the PASTEUR4OA project for the alignment of open accesspolicies in EU Member States with the open access mandate in Horizon 2020 programme.13
The present document National strategy of open access to scientific publications andresearch data in Slovenia 2015−2020 determines that each beneficiary has to ensure open
access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications that refer to the results from the nationally
funded research in the period from 2015 until 2020. Before the adoption of the open researchdata mandate a national pilot programme Open access to research data will be carried out.
The strategy also determines that journals published by the publishers based in Slovenia,
containing peer-reviewed articles and receiving national public funding for their activities in
the period from 2015 until 2020, have to be openly accessible. Research data, discussed inarticles, have to be available in open access. Publishers of scientific monographs, based in
Slovenia, which receive national public funding in the period from 2015 until 2020, should
strive to publish the monographs through business models that will enable open access totheir full text immediately upon publication and their licensing with open access licenses.
The subscription and copyright limitations for access to and for the re-use of scientificinformation, generated with the national public funding, will be suppressed with theimplementation of open access in Slovenia. We wish that the recommendations of the
Budapest Open Access Initiative and the Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the
Digital Age are implemented:14− Open access benefits research and researchers, and the lack of open access
impedes them.
− Open access for publicly-funded research benefits taxpayers and increases the returnon the investment, it has economic benefits as well as academic or scholarly benefits.
− Open access amplifies the social value of research, and open access policies amplify
the social value of funding agencies and research organisations.
− The costs of open access can be recovered without adding more money to thecurrent system of scholarly communication.
− Open access is consistent with copyright law everywhere in the world, and gives both
authors and readers more rights than they have under conventional publishingagreements.
− Ethical norms in research as well as the further development of legislation,
infrastructure and standards have to support as well as encourage content mining forthe benefit of the whole society.

12

Policy Recommendations for Open Access to Research Data in Europe (RECODE), http://recodeproject.eu/
Open Access Policy Alignment Strategies for European Union Research (PASTEUR4OA), http://www.pasteur4oa.eu/
Ten years on from the Budapest Open Access Initiative: setting the default to open,
http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai-10-recommendations, The Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the
Digital Age, http://thehaguedeclaration.com/the-hague-declaration-on-knowledge-discovery-in-the-digital-age/
13
14

4

National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

2

OPEN ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH DATAIn this chapter, the explanations regarding open access to scientific information are provided
that are used for beneficiaries in programmes and projects, funded or co-funded by the
Republic of Slovenia. In the continuation of the strategy, the term »funding« is used for any
share of co-funding with the national public funding.
2.1 Definition of open access to scientific publications and research data
In this strategy, the phrase »scientific information« refers to peer-reviewed scientific research
articles (published in scientific journals), to peer-reviewed scientific monographs and toresearch data which is prepared for the re-use (data underlying publications, as well as raw
data, ready for the analysis, that has undergone the curation, even if it is not directly
connected with publications).
Open access is defined as web access to scientific information15 that is free of charge to theend-user and enables the re-use of scientific information. The two forms of open access toscientific information are open access to scientific publications and open access to researchdata.
2.1.1 Open access to scientific publications
Open access to scientific publications encompasses gratis access to the full text ofpublications in a repository on the world wide web or to the full text on the publisher's website
and licensing the content with open access licenses. The repository has to enable freeaccess, unlimited dissemination, interoperability and preservation. Open access licenses
enable various re-use (besides reading, download and printing also copying, usage,
distribution, transmission and public display, the making and distribution of derivative works
in any digital medium for any responsible purpose).16
The two main modes of open access to scientific articles are:− Self-archiving in a repository (also referred to as green open access), where theauthor or his representative archive (deposit) the published article or the final peerreviewed manuscript in an online repository, respecting the copyright, before,
alongside or after its publication. Repository software allows the author to delay
access to the full text of the appropriate version of the article (»embargo period«)
because of the publishers' requirements as holders of material copyright.
−

15
16

Publication of an article in an open access journal (also referred to as gold open
access) enables that an article is openly accessible immediately upon publication, thecopyright is managed with open access licenses (the authors retain the material
copyright, the published article can be archived in the repository). The eventual costof publishing an open access article (i.e., Article Processing Charges, APC) is paid by
the author, the reader has no costs. The finances for paying the Article Processing
Charges can be ensured by the research organisation to which the researcher is

The term »scientific« refers to all scholarly disciplines.
Open Access Slovenia: definicije in deklaracije, http://www.openaccess.si/definicije-in-deklaracije/

5National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

affiliated, by the research funder or by another organisation. Within its businessmodel also the publisher can ensure the finances needed.
With the payment of Article Processing Charges, openness of scientific articles can also beensured in hybrid journals. These are subscription journals which establish open access tothe article full text after the payment of Article Processing Charges, authors retain thematerial copyright through the licensing with open access licenses, e. g., Creative Commons,and grant the rights to third parties according to the features of a chosen license.
Various business models were developed for open access for scientific monographs.17
2.1.2 Open access to research data
Research data, created with public funding, have to be as open as possible and accessible
with as little limitations as possible. Open research data has to be discoverable, accessible,
assessable, intelligible, useable, and, wherever possible, interoperable to specific quality
standards.18 Open access to research data refers to the right of web access and re-use ofdigital research data19 under the conditions, set in the grant agreement. Access, mining,
exploitation, reproduction and dissemination are free of charge.
Exemptions from the default fully open access have to be exactly defined and founded, e.g.,
because of the national security, the protection of personal data and the intellectual property
rights of private co-funders. Legal and ethical aspects for open access have to be verified. If
access to research data is limited because of the legitimate exemptions, then at least openly
accessible metadata have to be prepared for the catalogue of a thematic data centre thatspecify where and under which conditions the research data is available.
2.2 Decision regarding publication of results or protection of intellectual property
rights
The results of publicly funded research may be published in scientific journals, monographs
or digital archives, they may also be protected with the intellectual property rights because of
the possibility for commercial exploitation (patents …). Open access to the results of publicly
funded research is, as a rule, required when the results of publicly funded research are
published in scientific articles, monographs and digital archives. Open access mandate
should not interfere with the researcher's decision regarding the choice of the most suitablejournal for the publication of the research results or their commercial exploitation, e.g.,through patenting.20
As a rule, open access to the publication has to be ensured when the decision is reached forthe dissemination (publication) of the results of publicly funded research, as is shown in the
17Open Access Slovenia: načini objavljanja: odprte monografije, http://www.openaccess.si/nacini-objavljanja/odprtemonografije/
18
G8 Science Ministers Statement, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/g8-science-ministers-statement
19
According to the OECD Principles and Guidelines, the research data generally is the digitally readable factual records which
represent the basis for scientific research and are commonly accepted by the scientific community as necessary to validate
research findings. See Štebe, J., Bezjak, S., Lužar, S. Akcijski načrt za vzpostavitev sistema odprtega dostopa do raziskovalnih
podatkov, financiranih z javnimi sredstvi: predlog. Ljubljana: Arhiv družboslovnih podatkov, 2013, p. 5. http://www.adp.fdv.unilj.si/media/publikacije/AkcijskiNacrtODPP10.pdf
20European IPR Helpdesk: Publishing vs. Patenting, https://www.iprhelpdesk.eu/node/1950

6

National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

chart of open access to the scientific publications and research data in the wider context ofdissemination and exploitation of research results.21

Green
open
accessObjavePublications

R
E
S
E
A
R
C
H

Dissemination
plan

Decision todisseminate/
share

Gold
open
accessAnd/orDepositing
research data

Access anduse free ofchargeResearch
results

Restricted
access and/oruse

Data management
plan

Decision to
exploit/protect

Patenting(or other
form ofprotection)

Fig. 1: Decision chart regarding dissemination or exploitation of results of the publicly funded
research
2.3 Challenges of open access to scientific information
European researchers are mostly active within the European Research Area, they carry out
research with the funding of the European Commission and the national research funders.
The national policy of an EU Member State has to be aligned with the policy and mandate foropen access in Horizon 2020 programme. Non-alignment means the weakening of theEuropean Research Area and smaller visibility and impact of nationally funded research.
The research funder has to monitor compliance with the open access mandate for scientificinformation, check the reasons for low compliance and encourage the removal of obstacles.
Repositories and national open access infrastructures for scientific information have to besuitably and sustainably designed and interoperable with international infrastructures.
Unsuitable design of repositories for scientific publications and research data will disable thefunders to harvest metadata for monitoring the compliance with open access mandate forscientific information, sustainability will not be ensured.

21

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

7National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

In green open access, the lack of knowledge on copyright issues can cause the researchers
to deposit the published articles and not peer-reviewed preprints in the repositories. The
same mistake can be made on enabling public access to articles via the website, where theadditional problematic issue is that funders will not harvest the metadata of the publication on
the website during the monitoring of compliance. Open access licenses, e. g., Creative
Commons, enable various re-uses of scientific information, for example the making anddistribution of derivative works, but the science ethics framework still has to be observed.
Programmes' and projects' coordinators do not take care of the compliance with open accessmandate in grant agreements, depending on the funder mandate, the research funding canbe reduced.
Publishers of scientific journals allow the periods of temporary unavailability of peer-reviewed
preprints in repositories that are longer than the embargoes required by research funders(e.g., the latter require access to the article full text in six months at the latest and the
publishers allow access to the peer-review preprint only after twelve months).
Article Processing Charges (APC) were spotted as a business opportunity and the possibility
for quick profit with open journals publishing. The consequences or the side effects of new
business models for academic publishing are also predatory publishers and journals, theproviders of misleading metrics as well as »stolen« journals.22
Article Processing Charges are generally the highest at commercial academic publishers andin hybrid journals.23 The latter are subscription journals where some authors have paid for the
openness of their articles, yet the journal subscribers have not noticed the decrease ofsubscriptions to hybrid journals (i.e., double dipping), in spite of the fact that the publishers
guarantee relevant setting off of paid Article Processing Charges during subscriptions
calculations.

22

Beall’s List: Potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access publishers, http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/,
Plenilski založniki, http://vodici.fdv.uni-lj.si/subjects/guide.php?subject=OAR#tabs-5
23
A study of open access journals using Article Processing Charges, http://www.openaccesspublishing.org/apc2/

8National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

3

VISION AND GOALS OF OPEN ACCESS TO PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONSAND RESEARCH DATA IN SLOVENIA

The vision of the Republic of Slovenia is open access to scientific information from publicly
funded research (in the form of scientific publications and research data) and their exemption
from the system of payment for access and re-use. Openly accessible scientific information
should benefit Slovenian citizens, researchers and economy. Web access has to be enabled
to all available scientific information without cost for the users and the preservation ofscientific information ensured.
Modern research builds on extensive scientific dialogue and achievements of previous
research. The Europe 202024 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive economy
underlines the central role of knowledge and innovation in generating growth. Open accessto scientific publications and research data enables:− more efficient use and upgrade of the results of previous research (higher quality of
research),− collaboration and avoidance of research duplication (greater efficiency),− acceleration of innovation (faster transfer to market causing faster growth),− involvement of citizens and society (improved transparency of science).
The Republic of Slovenia therefore strives to improve access to scientific information in theform of scientific publications and research data and their openness with which the country
also wants to achieve greater efficiency of public research funding. As a rule, the results ofall publicly funded scientific research in the Republic of Slovenia have to be completely
openly accessible.
Goals:− 80 percent of scientific publications from nationally funded research, published in2017, will be openly accessible in 2018,− all scientific publications from nationally funded research (100 percent), published in
2020, will be openly accessible in 2021,− the realization of the pilot programme Open Access to Research Data in the period
2017−2020,− analysis of the pilot programme results,− the formation of open research data policy and provision of conditions for its
realization in the next period (after the year 2020), based on the experiences of Open
Research Data Pilot in Horizon 2020 and the pilot programme Open Access to
Research Data.

24

Europe 2020: a strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:2020:FIN:EN:PDF

9

National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

4

PRINCIPLES OF OPEN ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS ANDRESEARCH DATA IN SLOVENIA

4.1 Open access to scientific information is in the interest of the society
The individuals and the society use scientific information in the form of scientific publications
and research data in all areas of social and private life. With open access to scientificinformation, the Slovenian knowledge, innovation and skills will be globally available to users(researchers, public at large, research partners, and consumers), which will improve thequality of life and increase the recognisability, reputation and impact of Slovenian scientificresearch enterprise and enable its fuller integration into global development.
4.2 Open access to scientific information is in the interest of the economy
The economy has to be acquainted with open accessibility of results from publicly funded
research in Slovenia and in Europe in order to use them for the development of new products
and services. Openly accessible scientific information from the research, funded with national
and European public means, is available at the Open Science Slovenia portal25 and at the
OpenAIRE portal.26
4.3 Open access to scientific information is part of open science
Slovenia supports the principles of open science which are the transparency of theexperiment methodology, observation and data collection, public availability and the re-use of
research data, public availability and transparency of scientific communication and the use of
web tools to support the scientific collaboration.27 The open science is carried out in a waythat enables the researchers to cooperate in different phases of the research process with all
types of openly accessible data, results and protocols.28 Open accessibility of scientificinformation in the form of peer-reviewed publications and research data is an important partof open science.29
4.4 Scientific information is national scientific heritage
Scientific information in the form of scientific publications and research data represents thenational scientific heritage, irregardless of its originality and size. The national scientificheritage encompasses publications of Slovenian scientists in Slovenian and international
scientific journals, scientific journals published by publishers based in Slovenia, and scientificmonographs of Slovenian scientists, published by international publishers as well as in
Slovenia. Part of scientific information is available via publications and digital archives, theother part is not published because of special requirements, needs or limitations and isaccessible through other channels. Both parts represent the national scientific heritage and,as a rule, have to be openly accessible with respect of intellectual property rights.

25

Nacionalni portal odprte znanosti: dostop do znanja slovenskih raziskovalnih organizacij, http://www.openscience.si/
Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe (OpenAIRE), https://www.openaire.eu/
27
What, exactly, is Open Science? http://www.openscience.org/blog/?p=26928Open to all? Case studies of openness in research, http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/data-management-and-curation/openscience-case-studies
29
Open Science, https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/open-science26

10National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

The collection, preservation and open access to all scientific information generated on the
territory of Slovenia as well as to all scientific information referring to Slovenia is especially
important.
4.5 Licensing scientific information with open access licenses enables the widest reuse of research results
The researchers should strive to license the scientific information according to the open
access principles. On publication of peer-reviewed publications, they should strive to retain
material copyright and, if this is not possible, they should obtain the permission for the
publication through the institutional repository, according to the open access principles.
Public research organisations should, also with encouraging the use of open access licenses(e.g., Creative Commons), encourage licensing the scientific publications, and whennecessary, the research data according to the open access principles so that copyright ofauthors and third parties will be respected and the widest possible open access and re-useof scientific publications and research data enabled.
4.6 Evaluation of science should encourage open access to scientific information
The evaluation of researchers, research organisations, research programmes and projects
should encourage open accessibility of scientific information in the form of publications andresearch data. The criteria for the evaluation of science should also include relevant new
methods for the evaluation of science.
4.7 Appropriate funding is necessary to ensure sustainability of the national
infrastructure for open access to scientific information
The national open access infrastructure for scientific information in the form of publications
and research data is composed of people, organisations, equipment (machines andsoftware), and content. Sustainability of the national open access infrastructure can only beensured through continuous public funding, which enables the use of international standards
for the creation, publication, dissemination, use, processing, preservation and archiving of
scientific information, the education of all stakeholders and the notification of the national andinternational public on the availability and the ways of using the services and information via
the national open access infrastructure.
Openly accessible scientific information in the form of publications and research data has tobe securely preserved to prevent loss, damage and misuse.
4.8 Slovenian open access infrastructure is part of international infrastructures foropen access in science
The national open access infrastructure for peer-reviewed publications and research data
has to be interoperable with relevant European and international infrastructures. Slovenian
publications repositories, research data repositories and archives as well as software forscientific journal publishing have to be compatible with OpenAIRE guidelines, which will

11

National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020enable the European and national research funders to monitor the compliance with open
access mandates for scientific information.

12

National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

5

POLITICAL AND LEGAL BASIS FOR MANDATES ON OPEN ACCESS TOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION IN SLOVENIA

The basic documents at the European level are:
− The document A digital agenda for Europe30 determines the open data policy,
covering the full range of information that public organisations in the European Union
generate, collect or finance.
− The document Research and innovation as sources of renewed growth31 defines theEuropean policy and EU programmes for research and innovation.
− The communication from the European Commission A reinforced European Research
Area partnership for excellence and growth32 determines the European Research
Area (ERA) as a unified research area, open to the world, based on the internalmarket, in which researchers, scientific knowledge and technology circulate freely.
One of the key priorities foreseen to achieve this goal is open access to scientificinformation.
The principles of these political documents are more precisely defined in the communicationof the European Commission Towards better access to scientific information: Boosting thebenefits of public investments in research33 and in the Commission Recommendation of 17.
7. 2012 on access to and preservation of scientific information.34 In the communication, theEuropean Commission mandate regarding open access in the Horizon 2020 EU Framework
Programme for Research and Innovation is spelled out.35 The recommendation entrusts the
EU Member States to establish the national open access policies on the basis of theprinciples that are valid for Horizon 2020 framework programme.
The relevant documents at the national level are:
− The resolution on the national research and development programme 2011−202036
states the »open access to raw data from research, funded by public means« as oneof the goals, and the preparation of action plan till 2014 as the basis for the national
policy for open access to data from publicly funded research.

30

A Digital Agenda for Europe, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52010DC0245R(01)&from=EN
Research and innovation as sources of renewed growth, http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/pdf/state-of-theunion/2013/research-and-innovation-as-sources-of-renewed-growth-com-2014-339-final.pdf
32
A Reinforced European Research Area Partnership for Excellence and Growth,
http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/pdf/research_policies/era-communication_en.pdf
33
Towards better access to scientific information: Boosting the benefits of public investments in research,
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/era-communication-towards-better-access-to-scientificinformation_en.pdf
34
Commission Recommendation of 17. 7. 2012 on access to and preservation of scientific information,
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/recommendation-access-and-preservation-scientificinformation_en.pdf
35Documents on open access in the Horizon 2020 EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation: 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, Guidelines
on Data Management in Horizon 2020,
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf, General Multibeneficiary Model Grant Agreement for Horizon 2020 Programme, September 2014: Article 29 – Dissemination of Results –Open Access – Visibility of EU Funding, http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/mga/gga/h2020-mga-ggamulti_en.pdf
36
The Resolution on the National Research and Development Programme 2011−2020,
http://www.arhiv.mvzt.gov.si/fileadmin/mvzt.gov.si/pageuploads/pdf/odnosi_z_javnostmi/01.06.2011_dalje/01.06._RISSdz_ENG.
pdf
31

13

National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020−

Research infrastructures roadmap 2011−2020,37 in which the gratis and libre open
access to publications and research data is included in priority international projects
and national topics.38

37

Research Infrastructures Roadmap 2011−2020,
http://www.arhiv.mvzt.gov.si/fileadmin/mvzt.gov.si/pageuploads/pdf/znanost/RISS/SIR.pdf
38
Gratis and libre open access to publications and research data is included into chapters Priority international projects(cooperation in ESS, DARIAH and CESSDA) and Priority national topics (National digital resources, Research infrastructure forthe social sciences and the humanities).

14

National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

6

MANDATE FOR OPEN ACCESS TO PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS INSLOVENIAIn the framework of nationally funded research and according to the valid rules, adopted on
the basis of implementing documents, each beneficiary has to ensure open access to all
peer-reviewed articles relating to the research results.
Peer-reviewed publications refer to publications that have been evaluated by peers, i.e.,other scholars. The latter review the manuscript sent to them by the publisher of a journal ora monograph.
The dominant type of peer-reviewed scientific publications is the journal article. The funderstrongly encourages the beneficiaries to provide open access also to other types of scientificpublications, some of which may not be peer-reviewed (scientific monographs, books,
lectures published in proceedings, grey literature – reports …).
Beneficiaries must ensure that the full texts of all peer-reviewed publications, referring to theresearch results, can be read online in a repository, downloaded and printed. The
beneficiaries should strive to their best abilities to license the publications with open accesslicenses (e.g., Creative Commons),39 which will enable wider re-use of peer-reviewed
publications (besides reading, downloading and printing also copying, usage, distribution,transmission and public display, the making and distribution of derivative works in any digital
medium for any responsible purpose).
The open access mandate for peer-reviewed publications in Slovenia is composed of two
steps, the first one is the deposit of a publication in a repository, and the second one theprovision of open access to the full text of a publication via the repository. These two steps
can be carried out simultaneously, depending on whether self-archiving of a relevant article
version (green open access) is chosen, where the eventual embargo period influences
access to the full text of the article via the repository, or the publication of an article in an
open access journal (gold open access) or an open access article in a hybrid journal is done.
Open access to peer-reviewed scientific monographs has to be ensured according to the two
steps, respecting the copyright.
6.1 Deposit of publication in a repository
Beneficiaries have to deposit a machine-readable electronic copy of a final peer-reviewed
manuscript of the article, accepted for publication, or the published article in a repository for
scientific publications. This must be done as soon as possible and upon publication at thelatest (in some cases, the deposit of the relevant version of an article is possible before
publication, for example upon acceptance of the article by the journal). Copyright permitting,the published article has to be deposited (regarding layout, page numbering …). The article

39

Open access licenses Creative Commons are pre-prepared licenses that grant permitted use and define not permitted use of
publications. Licensing of an author work with Creative Commons (CC) license does not mean that the author waives the author
rights. The author retains the material copyright and permits the use of his/her publication to all under the permissions specified,with the purpose to ensure the widest possible re-use. The Creative Commons 4.0 International license is the same in all
jurisdictions and is used for licensing publications, research datasets and databases(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

has to be deposited in a repository also when it is published in an open access journal (goldopen access) or as an open access article in a hybrid journal.
The term »machine-readable electronic copy« means that the publications have to be in aformat that can be used and understood by a computer. The publications have to be stored
using text file formats which are either standardized or otherwise publicly known so thatdevelopment of new tools for working with these documents is possible.
A repository for scientific publications is an online archive. Institutional, subject-based andcentralised repositories are all acceptable choices. Beneficiaries should not choose arepository which claims rights over deposited publications and precludes access.40
The beneficiaries must strive to deposit at the same time the research data needed tovalidate the results, presented in the deposited scientific publications. The most appropriate
digital archive for this purpose is the relevant data repository. The concept of publication has
rapidly evolved over the past years and in the context of the digital era, and increasingly
includes the underlying research data. This data is needed to validate the results, presented
in the deposited scientific publication, and therefore has to be considered as the crucial partof the publication, enabling scientific best practice.
6.2 Ensuring open access to publication via the repository
Beneficiaries have to ensure open access to the full text of the deposited publication and theunderlying data via the chosen repository.
Time-wise, the ensuring of open access depends on the mode of open access:− Self-archiving in a repository (green open access): the beneficiaries have toensure open access to the full text of the publication in a form of a final peer-reviewed
manuscript of the article in a repository within a maximum of six months from the dateof publication (or in maximum twelve months for publications in the social sciences
and humanities).
− Open access journals (gold open access) or open access article in a hybrid
journal: full text of the publication has to openly accessible in a repository in a form of
the published article upon publication at the latest.
− Open access scientific monographs, licensed with open access licenses Creative
Commons, have to be openly accessible in a repository in a form of a publishedmonograph upon publication at the latest.
6.3 Metadata
On deposit of publication in a repository, the beneficiaries also have to ensure open access –via the repository – to the bibliographic metadata of the publication that has to be in astandard format. The authors of publications and the research datasets must have national
identification attributes and have to be uniquely attributable through identifiers which are40

The Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe provides support for choosing the repository (OpenAIRE,
https://www.openaire.eu/), the information on open access repositories is also available in OpenDOAR(http://www.opendoar.org/) and ROAR listings (http://roar.eprints.org/).

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National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

persistent, non-proprietary, open and interoperable (e.g., the use of existing sustainable
initiatives such as ORCID41 for author identifiers and DataCite42 for research data identifiers).
Metadata also has to contain all the following data:− the funder acronym,− the programme of funding,− the title of the project, acronym and grant agreement number,− the publication date and length of embargo period, if applicable,− persistent identifier.
The persistent identifier (for example a Digital Object Identifier, DOI, Universal Resource
Name, URN) permanently identifies the individual publication and the location of its publishedversion. If persistent identifier is recorded in the metadata of a peer-review preprint in a
repository, linking is possible to its published version.
6.4 Article Processing Charges of an open access publication
Through the green open access, the researchers can comply with open access mandate forpeer-reviewed publications from the publicly funded research with no additional costs.
Should they decide for the paid open accessibility of a publication, the Article Processing
Charges (APC) of an open access peer-reviewed article in an open access scientific journal
and in a hybrid scientific journal as well as Book Processing Charges of an open accessmonograph are eligible costs for reimbursement during the period of the research. Article
Processing Charges of articles in open access journals and of open access articles in hybrid
journals as well as of open access monographs, incurred after the completion of theresearch, are not eligible for reimbursement from the research funding.
The organisations managing consortia for access to paid scientific information resources are
obliged to provide the transparency of license agreements with publishers. While managing
the consortia for access to paid scientific information resources, they should strive for morefavourable Article Processing Charges of open access peer-reviewed articles for researchers
from the Slovenian research organisations and try to their best abilities to prevent double
payments to publishers of hybrid scientific journals (subscription for access to the journal aswell as Article Processing Charges of openly accessible articles). At the same time they mustalso strive to achieve appropriate embargo periods.
Joint negotiations with publishers of open access journals regarding Article Processing
Charges of open access articles should be carried out for the consortium of Slovenian
research organisations to ensure economically most favourable publishing.
6.5 Support for researchers and monitoring of compliance
In cooperation with other stakeholders, the research organisations should establish thesupport for researchers regarding compliance with open access mandate for scientific

41

ORCID is alphanumeric code for unique identification of authors of scientific and other documents (http://orcid.org/).
DataCite is an international association the main purpose of which is to develop and support discovery, identification andcitation of research data and other research objects (https://www.datacite.org/about-datacite/what-do-we-do).
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National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

information. In order to avoid duplication, the stakeholders should strive to cooperate inproviding support services at the national level.
In the European Research Area, the European and national research funders will use the
OpenAIRE portal services to monitor compliance with the open access mandates. Slovenian
publications repositories, data centres as well as software for scientific journal publishinghave to be compatible with OpenAIRE guidelines, which means that in the digital unit
metadata the data on the funder, the programme of funding, the title of the project, theacronym, the grant agreement number, and the publication date as well as the length ofembargo period, if applicable, will be provided.
The consequence of non-compliance with the open access mandate can result in imposing
sanctions, appropriately and proportionally defined by implementing acts.

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National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

7

PILOT PROGRAMME OPEN ACCESS TO RESEARCH DATA IN SLOVENIA

To establish the necessary procedures and inform the researchers and the public at large,
the national pilot programme Open access to research data will be carried out before theadoption of the open research data mandate. The pilot programme aims at concretisation offurther development of the Slovenian open science policy and will strive to improve andmaximize access to and re-use of research data.
Scientific areas where the openness principle is the easiest to realize because of the existingdata infrastructure are included in the pilot programme as priority:− social sciences,− humanities,− medicine,− biological sciences.
The individual research action may opt out completely or partially from the pilot programme
Open access to research data for a variety of reasons in any stage:− if participation in the pilot programme is incompatible with obligation to protect all the
results for which it can be reasonably expected that they will be commercially orindustrially exploited,− if participation in the pilot programme is incompatible with the need for confidentiality
in connection with the national security issues,− if participation in the pilot programme is incompatible with existing rules concerning
the protection of personal data,− if participation in the pilot programme would jeopardise the achievement of the main
aim of the research,− if the research will not generate / collect any research data,− if there is other legitimate reason to not take part in the pilot programme.
The proposals will not be evaluated more favourably because they will take part in the pilot
programme nor will they be less favourably evaluated because of opting out of the pilot
programme.
During the lifetime of the research a programme or a project can opt out of the pilot
programme Open access to research data for any of the reasons above, which have to be
described in the data management plan.
Areas or subareas of, or individual projects, funded from the budget of the Republic ofSlovenia, that are not covered by the scope of the pilot programme Open access to researchdata may participate in the pilot programme on a voluntary basis. Programme and projectgroups that decide to participate in the pilot programme on a voluntary basis will bemonitored along with and receive the same support as projects participating in the pilot
programme.

19National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

The pilot programme Open access to research data applies to two types of data:
1. The data, including associated metadata,43 needed to validate the results presented
in scientific publications. They have to be openly accessible as soon as possible.
2. Other data,44 including associated metadata, as specified and within the deadlines
laid down in the data management plan.
A data management plan is a document outlining which research data will be collected or
generated during the research, how it will be handled, following what methodology andstandards, where and how this data will be shared and/or made open, and how it will be
curated and preserved for the appropriate length of time. For each collected or generated
research data the explanation has to be provided on its openness, i.e., the open researchdata has to be discoverable and identifiable (the use of persistent identifiers), accessible (theuse of open access licenses, reasonable embargo lengths), assessable and intelligible, it has
to be suitable for re-use (securely stored and curated by the certified repositories), and attainspecific quality standards.
Research that is part of the pilot programme Open access to research data must provide thefirst version of the data management plan till the sixth month inclusive of the action, covering
individual datasets. Other funded research that does not participate in the pilot programme isalso invited to submit a data management plan, if relevant for the planned research.
The grant agreements for funding of programmes and projects, participating in the pilot
programme Open access to research data, include a special clause according to which thebeneficiaries have to fulfil the following requirements:− The aforementioned two types of research data have to be deposited, preferably in a
research data repository. Research data repositories are online archives for researchdata. They can be subject-based/thematic, institutional or centralized. As a priority,
the research data has to be deposited at the authorized national data centres fromthe list of the Slovenian Research Agency.
− Programmes and projects in the pilot programme must take measures to enable forthird parties to access, mine, exploit, reproduce and disseminate the research data,
free of charge to all users. Licensing with open access licenses Creative Commons(CC BY or CC0) is a straightforward and effective way to attain this goal.45− At the same time, the programmes and the projects have to provide information via
the chosen repository about tools and instruments at disposal for the validation of
results (i.e., specialized software or software code, analysis protocols etc.).
Costs relating to the implementation of the pilot programme Open access to research data
will be eligible for reimbursement during the research action. Specific technical andprofessional support services will also be provided.
The research data that has undergone the scientific judgement and has been as suchdeposited at the authorised data centre is recognised as a scientific publication in theevaluation of the results of the programme or project.
43

Associated metadata refers to the metadata describing the research data deposited.
Regarding the content, the data is available in the raw, non-processed format, and includes the most non-analysed details(G8 Science Ministers Statement, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/g8-science-ministers-statement).
45
Creative Commons: about the licenses, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/, Creative Commons: about CC0 – No Rights
Reserved, http://creativecommons.org/about/cc04420National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020

8

OPEN ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND MONOGRAPHS, PUBLISHED INSLOVENIA

Journals published by publishers, based in Slovenia, incorporating peer-reviewed articles
and receiving national public funding for their activities, have to be openly accessible (i.e.,
gold open access). Peer-reviewed articles from these journals have to be openly accessible
immediately upon publication and licensed with open access licenses (e.g., Creative
Commons). Software for the journal publishing has to be compatible with OpenAIRE
guidelines.46 The journals have to be included in the Directory of Open Access Journals(DOAJ).47
Publishers of scientific monographs, based in Slovenia, which receive national publicfunding, should strive to publish the monographs through business models that will enable
open access to their full text immediately upon the publication and their licensing with open
access licenses (e.g., Creative Commons). The published open access scientificmonographs have to be included in the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB).48

46

OpenAIRE Guidelines, https://guidelines.openaire.eu/wiki/Main_Page; open source software for journal publishing Open
Journal Systems (OJS) is compatible with OpenAIRE guidelines, https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/
47
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), http://doaj.org/
48
Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), http://www.doabooks.org/

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