Grant will fund development of repository and curation of ERC research published in books
The European Research Council (ERC) is joining forces with the OAPEN Foundation to ensure open access to research funded by the ERC.
OAPEN will receive an ERC grant to fund development of a tailor-made deposit service for ERC grantees and their publishers.
As part of the project, OAPEN will provide guidance and support to ERC grantees and their publishers on complying with ERC open access requirements for books. It will aggregate and allow the deposit of open access monographs and book chapters based on ERC funded research, provide quality assurance and dissemination of deposited publications and ensure their digital preservation.
Martin Stokhof, Chair of the ERC's Scientific Council Working Group on Open Access, said, “Since 2014 open access is not an option for new ERC grantees, it’s a legal obligation. The agreement with OAPEN helps scientists who benefit from our funding, make their publications freely accessible online.”
Eelco Ferwerda, director of OAPEN Foundation noted that the ERC is keen to ensure open access to peer reviewed monographs and edited collections. “We hope our partnership will help to accelerate the transition to open access for books,” Ferwerda said.
The new agreement reaffirms the ERC’s commitment to ensuring the outputs of the research it funds can be freely accessed, both by scientists and by the public. Similar agreements have been signed with open access repositories in life sciences (Europe PubMed Central) and physical sciences and engineering (arXiv), covering most of scientific fields and publication formats.
Under Horizon 2020 rules, beneficiaries of ERC grants must deposit, in a suitable open access repository, the published version or final accepted manuscript of any peer-reviewed scientific publication, including peer-reviewed monographs and book chapters.
Publications have to be deposited as soon as possible and at the latest upon publication. Open access must be ensured within six months of publication, or up to twelve months in the case of social sciences research.
Receive the Funding Newswire each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.
