Last month, Amelia published an article in Research Media about Horizon 2020 and open access. The article is attached as a pdf to this post, and a brief part of it is published below.

The Parliament has been hesitant about the extent to which it shall endorse open access. On the one hand, the scientific community loves open access: the free and accessible flow of research publications and data makes their lives easier, and advancements happen faster when knowledge is available. From this perspective, most innovative industries also happily accept the idea of pooling the strengths and wisdom facilitated particularly through base-level research. However, anyone who recalls when the Commission evaluated the Database Directive in 2006 will remember that the publishing industry at that time managed to keep a degree of protection, which everyone agreed was unnecessary and even harmful. The opposition towards open access, even if in defiance of all common sense, should therefore not be underestimated.

 

Download the complete article.