Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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# 52012SC0221

**COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF IMPACT ASSESSMENT accompanying the document RECOMMENDATION ON ACCESS TO AND PRESERVATION OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION**

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

1.1........ Scope............................................................................................................................ 2

1.2........ Context.......................................................................................................................... 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Communication[1].
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 Commission[2] on scientific
information in the digital age. This was followed in November 2007 by Council
Conclusions[3],
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-science[4] was adopted in
March 2009. It was followed by Council Conclusions[5] 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
Union[6]
and A Digital Agenda for Europe[7].
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 proposal for the Horizon 2020 Programme[8]. 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:

·
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).

(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 enterprise[9].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 country[10].
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.

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.

(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 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.

[1]               http://europa.eu/press\_room/pdf/complet\_en\_barroso\_\_\_007\_-\_europe\_2020\_-\_en\_version.pdf.

[2]               http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2007:0056:FIN:EN:PDF.

[3]               http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms\_Data/docs/pressData/en/intm/97236.pdf.

[4]               http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0108:FIN:EN:PDF.

[5]               http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms\_data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/111732.pdf.

[6]               http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/pdf/innovation-union-communication\_en.pdf.

[7]               http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0245:FIN:EN:PDF.

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

[9]               See the results of the PARSE.Insight Project.

[10]             See European Commission (2011), ‘National Open Access
and Preservation Policies in Europe. Analysis of a questionnaire to the
European Research Area Committee.’
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document\_library/pdf\_06/open-access-report-2011\_en.pdf.

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