COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF IMPACT ASSESSMENT accompanying the document RECOMMENDATION ON ACCESS TO AND PRESERVATION OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION
Date: 2012-07-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU research policy, Internet, access to information, digital archiving, dissemination of information, innovation, scientific press, scientific research

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 17.7.2012  
SWD(2012) 221 final 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF IMPACT ASSESSMENT 
accompanying the document  
RECOMMENDATION ON ACCESS TO AND PRESERVATION OF SCIENTIFIC 
INFORMATION 

{C(2012) 4890 final} 
{SWD(2012) 222 final} 

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   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

1.1. 

1.2. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

Scope and context ........................................................................................................ 2 

Scope ............................................................................................................................ 2 

Context ......................................................................................................................... 2 

Problem definition........................................................................................................ 3 

Rationale for EU action, EU added value and subsidiarity.......................................... 4 

Policy objectives .......................................................................................................... 4 

Policy options............................................................................................................... 5 

Comparison of policy options and impacts.................................................................. 6 

Monitoring and evaluation ........................................................................................... 7 

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1. 

SCOPE AND CONTEXT 

1.1. 

Scope 

This impact assessment (IA) investigates whether, in the light of current developments in the 
scholarly publications system, more needs to be done at EU level with a view to improving 
the efficacy of research and fostering an innovative Union that is a global science leader. The 
IA  examines  the  policy  options  on  furthering  EU  action  to  improve  access  to  and  the 
preservation  of  scientific  information  in  the  digital  age,  in  particular  the  impact  of  a 
Commission Recommendation to the Member States on that topic. 

1.2. 

Context 

Knowledge  and  innovation  give  a  competitive  advantage  as  stressed  in  the  Europe  2020 
Communication1.  Structurally  low  growth  in  Europe  can  be  tackled  by  creating  optimal 
conditions  for  innovation.  In  order  to  become  an  increasingly  competitive  knowledge-based 
economy,  Europe  must  not  only  improve  the  production  of  knowledge,  but  also  the 
dissemination and sharing of the scientific results of publicly funded research.  

With the advent of the digital age, the scientific community sees greater opportunities for the 
electronic dissemination of the results of research. One of these opportunities is open access 
(OA). Open access enables the provision of free online access to and the re-use of knowledge 
in the form of scientific publications, data, monographs and related material.  

Commission policy development on access to and the preservation of scientific information in 
the  digital  age  builds  on  policy  developments  that  started  in  February  2007,  with  the 
Communication from the Commission2 on scientific information in the digital age. This was 
followed in November 2007 by Council Conclusions3, which included a set of actions to be 
undertaken by Member States. They invited the Commission to experiment with open access 
to  scientific  publications  resulting  from  projects  funded  by  the  EU  research  framework 
programmes, resulting in an Open Access pilot as part of the seventh framework programme 
launched in August 2008.  

A Communication on ICT infrastructures for e-science4 was adopted in March 2009. It was 
followed  by  Council  Conclusions5  in  December  2009  inviting  Member  States  and  the 
Commission  to  continue  extending  access  and  to  ensure  a  coherent  approach  to  data  access 
and curation.  

In 2010, the Commission adopted the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives Innovation Union6 and 
A  Digital  Agenda  for  Europe7.  Both  Communications  refer  to  open  access  as  a  means  of 
achieving the Europe 2020 objectives. They announce that open access will be extended to the 
results of publicly funded research, in particular as a general rule for projects funded by the 
EU  research  framework  programmes.  On  30  November  2011,  the  Commission  adopted  a 

1 
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3 
4 
5 
6 
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http://europa.eu/press_room/pdf/complet_en_barroso___007_-_europe_2020_-_en_version.pdf. 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2007:0056:FIN:EN:PDF. 
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/intm/97236.pdf. 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0108:FIN:EN:PDF. 
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/111732.pdf. 
http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/pdf/innovation-union-communication_en.pdf. 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0245:FIN:EN:PDF. 

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proposal  for  the  Horizon  2020  Programme8.  From  2014  onwards,  it  will  combine  European 
research and innovation funding in a single framework. It is proposed to make open access the 
basic principle for the dissemination of the results of research. 

Another strategic policy issue is the development and implementation of a European Research 
Area (ERA). The ERA encompasses all research and development activities, programmes and 
policies in Europe which involve a transnational perspective. The aim is to provide access to a 
Europe-wide open space for knowledge and technologies in which transnational synergies and 
complementarities  are  fully  exploited.  In  this  context,  issues  relating  to  access  to  and  the 
preservation of scientific information are particularly relevant. 

Against this policy background, the Commission will adopt a new Communication ‘Towards 
better  access  to  scientific  information  —  Boosting  the  benefits  of  public  investment  in 
research’. This Communication will take stock of developments since 2007 and indicate areas 
in  which  the  Member  States  and  the  Commission  should  take  further  action.  It  will  be 
accompanied by a Recommendation to Member States suggesting specific actions in the area 
of access to and the preservation of scientific information. 

2. 

PROBLEM DEFINITION 

The scholarly dissemination system is confronted with a series of problems that prevent the 
achievement of the desired policy outcome, i.e. to offer researchers in the ERA an integrated 
system of practices and infrastructures that allows easy, open access to, and the use and re-use 
of, the results of research. These problems are: 

(a) 

Suboptimal access to scientific research publications 

Journal  subscription  prices  have  risen  above  inflation  levels  and  continue  to  rise,  putting 
libraries  under  pressure  and  making  it  difficult  to  access  the  results  of  publicly  funded 
research. 

Access  to  the  content  of  scientific  journals  and  opportunities  to  use  and  re-use  scientific 
information  remain  limited  for  researchers,  industry  (in  particular  small  and  medium-sized 
enterprises) and the public at large.  

For a number of years, the scientific community has been calling for open access to the results 
of  publicly  funded  research,  in  particular  peer-reviewed  publications.  Open  access  to 
scientific publications takes two forms: 

• 

• 

8 

The  costs  of  publishing  an  article  are  covered  upfront  by  the  authors  (in  practice, 
their funding bodies or universities) rather than by subscriptions, making the article 
immediately available to everyone for free (Gold Open Access). 

The  text  of  the  peer-reviewed  publication  is  archived  in  a  repository  so  it  can  be 
made  available  to  everyone  for  free,  usually  after  an  embargo  that  allows  the 
scientific  publisher  to  recoup  their  costs  and  make  a  return  on  investment  (Green 
Open Access). 

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0808:FIN:en:PDF. 

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(b) 

Suboptimal access to research data 

Currently,  research  data  from  publicly  funded  research  are  not  systematically  available  for 
others to build upon.  

One part of the problem is that many different kinds and categories of data are generated at 
different  stages  of  the  research  process.  There  is  also  a  lack  of  career  rewards  and/or 
recognition for sharing data. Finally, infrastructuresare not yet in place for researchers to find, 
access, use and re-use data in a trusted way. 

(c) 

The  rising  tide  of  scientific  data,  making  the  long-term  preservation  of  scientific 
information necessary 

The advent of born-digital material and the generation of enormous amounts of data has given 
rise  to  new  difficulties  for  the  long-term  preservation  of  scientific  information.  Very  few 
research  funding  organisations  and  academic  institutions  undertake  data  preservation 
activities.Appropriate financing and organisational models are lacking. While publishers have 
made  an  effort  to  digitise  in  the  past,  the  long-term  preservation  of  scientific  information 
should  be  a  public  task.  Preservation  cannot  be  allowed  to  depend  on  the  life-cycle  of  a 
commercial  enterprise9.Stakeholders  include  researchers,  businesses  (including  SMEs), 
scientific  publichers  (for  profit  and  not-for-profit),  governments  (national  or  regional), 
academic institutions (including their libraries) and citizens. 

3. 

RATIONALE FOR EU ACTION, EU ADDED VALUE AND SUBSIDIARITY 

Policy  actions  in  the  area  of  scientific  information  are  cross-border  and  international  by 
definition, as science is a global endeavour. Initiatives exist in all Member States to facilitate 
and enable wider access to and the preservation of scientific information, but the intensity and 
focus of initiatives may vary, and there is even some fragmentation within the same country10. 
Multiple initiatives have led to overlapping policies for European researchers,  investors and 
citizens. Since 2007, the Commission has been instrumental in encouraging Member States to 
continuously exchange information and work together.  

The development of e-infrastructure has advanced at an uneven pace.  

Policy regarding research outputs must be coordinated with other policy areas related to the 
realisation of the ERA and the broader economic development goals of the EU. This type of 
coordination can only be organised efficiently at EU level.  

The important share of public funding in R & D (35 % of investment) gives the public sector 
an important say in how results should be disseminated to stimulate economic growth and for 
the benefit of society at large.  

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See the results of the PARSE.Insight Project. 
See  European  Commission  (2011),  ‘National  Open  Access  and  Preservation  Policies  in  Europe. 
Analysis 
Committee.’ 
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/open-access-report-2011_en.pdf. 

Research  Area 

questionnaire 

European 

the 

of 

to 

a 

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4. 

POLICY OBJECTIVES 

The  preferred  policy  option  should  have  the  following  general,  specific  and  operational 
objectives. 

General objective: 

• 

to  provide  better  support  for  innovation  and  contribute  to  economic  growth  by 
improving  the  conditions  for  access  to,  the  use  and  re-use  of  scientific  information 
and by enabling the development of the ERA. 

Specific objectives: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

to  make  scientific  publications  openly  accessible  online  for  free,  as  far  as  possible 
and as soon as possible; 

to make research data openly accessible online for free; 

to preserve scientific information for future generations; 

to provide access to scientific information across Member States. 

Operational objectives: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

to stimulate the implementation of open access policies for scientific publications by 
Member States that increase the number of open access publications resulting from 
publicly funded research, increase the number of open access mandates and improve 
the funding conditions for Gold Open Access; 

to  stimulate  the  implementation  of  open  access  policies  for  data  by  Member  States 
that require the deposit of research data resulting from publicly funded research in an 
e-infrastructure and support the set-up and maintenance of digital e-infrastructures; 

to support the set-up and maintenance of digital e-infrastructures for the preservation 
of  scientific  information  and  promote  effective  deposit  systems  for  born-digital 
scientific information; 

to  ensure  full  interoperability  between  e-infrastructures  across  and  outside  the  EU, 
promote federated access to scientific content and promote coordination of policies, 
exchange of best practice and stakeholder dialogue at European level. 

5. 

POLICY OPTIONS 

The following policy options are developed and assessed in detail in the report. 

(1) 

Discontinuing existing EU action 

This option would involve scrapping all soft measures, including any implementing 
measure currently contained in the Council Conclusions on scientific information in 
the digital age. The EU would not address problems and would no longer support the 
process towards widening access to scientific information, by funding or co-funding 
infrastructures, projects and policy-making. 

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(2) 

No policy change (Baseline scenario) 

This  option  would  leave  the  current  approach  unchanged.  Access  to  and  the 
preservation  of  scientific  information  would  continue  to  build  on  existing  legal 
frameworks,  where  these  exist,  and  policies  would  continue  to  depend  on  national 
initiatives, which are at variance with these policies. 

(3) 

Implementation of a policy framework in the form of soft law 

Under this option, a policy framework would be defined, suggesting implementation 
through  a  Recommendation  to  Member  States,  accompanied  by  a  Communication 
from the Commission. This policy framework would help Member States to develop 
and  implement  policies  on  access  to  and  the  preservation  of  scientific  information 
(scientific  articles  and  research  data).  It  would  set  out  the  specific  objectives  and 
leave the choice to the relevant actors in the Member States to decide which policy 
fits  best,  both  for  the  Member  State  and  for  each  academic  discipline.  If  self-
archiving  (Green  Open  Access)  is  mandated,  embargo  periods  should  be  no  longer 
than twelve months in social sciences and the humanities and six months in all other 
fields.  A  longer  embargo  period  for  social  sciences  and  humanities  is  explained  by 
the  longer  half-life  of  publications  in  these  disciplines  compared  to  those  in  the 
scientific,  technical  and  medical  fields.  It  would  call  for  open  access  mandates  for 
both  publications  and  research  data  and  for  the  creation  of  digital  e-infrastructures 
(repositories), if they do not already exist, and for e-infrastructures to also serve for 
preservation  purposes.  It  would  suggest  building  on  current  examples  of  best 
practice. 

(4) 

Implementation of a policy framework in the form of approximation of legislation 

Article 182(5) of the TFEU provides a legal basis for taking the measures necessary 
for the implementation of the ERA, including approximation of legislation through a 
Directive.  Under  this  option,  the  objectives  set  by  the  policy  framework  would  be 
implemented through a Directive. 

6. 

COMPARISON OF POLICY OPTIONS AND IMPACTS 

Option 1: 

Discontinuing  existing  EU  action  would  lead  to  an  increase  in  divergence  among  Member 
States.  Some  would  make  progress  on  open  access,  reaping  the  benefits  of  a  more  open 
scientific research environment. Others would have less guidance and could not benefit from 
EU infrastructure funding. This divergence of developments would have a negative impact on 
researchers  and  on  public  budgets,  mainly  university  libraries  that  have  to  cope  with 
increasing  prices  for  the  acquisition  of  research  output.  No  progress  would  be  made  in  the 
long-term preservation of scientific information. 

Option 2: 

No  policy  change  would  not  change  the  current  divergence  among  Member  States.,  Some 
convergence  around  the  2007  Council  Conclusions  could  be  expected,  although  at  a  slower 
pace  and  without  taking  into  account  the  developments  in  scientific  information  that  have 
happened since. Funding for infrastructures and projects would be available, but it would be 

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limited  to  experimental  projects.  There  would  be  no  improvement  on  the  current  situation. 
The effect on stakeholders would be similar to the effect of discontinuing EU action. 

Option 3: 

The  implemenation  of  a  policy  framework  in  the  form  of  soft  law  is  expected  to  improve 
access  to  scientific  information,  regardless  of  how  Member  States  implement  it.  Providing 
open access to scientific publications has the potential to trigger overall benefits as a return on 
investment  in  R&D,  and  also  save  governments  and  research-funding  organisations  money, 
while maintaining a sustainable system for the dissemination of scientific publications in the 
medium  and  long  term.  Those  savings  depend  on  how  open  access  is  ensured.  The  precise 
impacts  and  risks  of  opening  up  access  to  publications  also  depend  on  how  open  access  is 
ensured.  

Impacts in relation to wider access to research data and the preservation of both publications 
and  data  would  mainly  be  felt  at  the  level  of  governments  and/or  research-funding 
organisations  that  would  have  to  fund  additional  efforts.  Effects  of  scale  are  likely  to  be 
achieved  as  the  e-infrastructure  needed  to  ensure  Green  Open  Access  can  also  be  used  to 
provide better access to data and for preservation purposes. 

Given the non-binding nature of a Recommendation it can be expected that some objectives 
would be only partially achieved. 

Option 4: 

As  the  policy  measures  of  the  soft  law  option  would  be  the  same  under  the  optionof 
approximation of legislation, the impact is expected to be largely the same. The difference in 
this  option  is  that  putting  policy  into  practice  would  take  considerably longer  as  it  entails  a 
legislative process and an implementation phase at Member State level. This could delay the 
effects of the policy option. 

A  comparison  of  the  different  policy  options  shows  that  Option  3  offers  the  best  balance 
between  enabling  the  provision  of  wider  and  quicker  access  to  scientific  information  whilst 
taking  into  account  how  science  and  scholarly  publishing  have  changed  over  the  past  few 
centuries.  It  would  allow  some  flexibility  for  Member  States  to  take  into  account  their 
national  specificities  in  a  European  framework,  and  for  all  stakeholders  to  endorse 
improvements.  To  mitigate  the  inherent  non-binding  character  of  a  Recommendation  to 
Member States, it should provide for close monitoring by the Commission.  

7. 

MONITORING AND EVALUATION 

The core indicators of progress towards achieving the identified objectives will be assessed in 
the context of the ERA framework, with periodic reports from Member States on action taken 
in response to the Recommendation. 

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