Presentation given at the Workshop "Between publication culture and funder mandates - What is the future for disciplinary repositories?" during the conference "Open Repositories 2014" (OR 2014) which took place in Helsinki on 9-13 June 2014. More information: https://www.conftool.com/or2014/index.php?page=browseSessions&form_session=80

1. The European Research Council
Dr Dagmar Meyer
ERC Executive Agency, Unit A1
Disciplinary repositories and funder
mandates – a view from the
European Research Council
OR 2014 Workshop, 9 June 2014

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European Research Council (ERC)
 In operation since 2007; ERC funding programme part of
the EU’s Research Framework Programme (FP7 (2007-
2013) / Horizon 2020 (2014-2020))
 Budget under Horizon 2020: more than €13 billion
 Funding frontier research in any discipline
 Investigator driven, bottom up
 Generous funding for PI and a (small) team for up to 5
years
 Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants
 More than 4000 grants awarded so far

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ERC’s mission and Open Access
 The mission of the ERC is to support excellent
fundamental research in sciences and the humanities.
 The main outputs of this research are new knowledge,
ideas and understanding, which the ERC expects its
researchers to publish in peer-reviewed articles and
monographs.
 The ERC considers that providing free online access
to these materials is the most effective way of ensuring
that the fruits of the research it funds can be accessed,
read and used as the basis for further research.
 ERC commitment to Open Access since 2006.

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Open access guidelines for ERC
funded researchers
 Provide open access to all research papers and monographs
that are supported in whole, or in part, by ERC funding.
 Do so within 6 months (revision Oct 2013: 12 months for SH
domain).
 Preferably use discipline-specific repositories:
 ERC Scientific Council recommends Europe PubMed Central for
Life Sciences, arXiv for Physical Sciences and Engineering; no
specific recommendation for Social Sciences and Humanities
 Alternatively use institutional repositories or centralised ones
such as Zenodo.
 Research data should be retained and researchers should be
prepared to share their data where possible.

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ERC Open Access mandate
FP7: Since Work Programme 2012, Special Clause on Open
Access added to the grant agreement:
 Immediate deposit mandatory;
 best efforts must be made to provide open access within 6
months (clear definition of ‘best effort’).
Horizon 2020:
 Specific article in the grant agreement.
 Deposit and open access to all peer-reviewed publications
mandatory.
 Maximum delay 6 months (12 months in SH domain)
 Deposit of underlying data strongly encouraged.
NB: Includes monographs and book chapters; cost eligible if
incurred during the lifetime of the grant.

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Strong preference for discipline-
specific repositories
ERC strongly recommends use of discipline specific
repositories:
 Primary objective to make results accessible to other
experts in the field so they can build on them - discipline-
specific repositories provide better visibility of results
among respective community.
 Such repositories often provide additional services /
features of use to the specific community. Some publishers
offer direct deposit.
 Stronger buy-in / take-up by researchers compared to
institutional repositories – expected benefits outweigh
efforts to deposit.

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Benefits of discipline-specific
repositories (ideal case scenario!)
 Visibility of prestigious ERC funding among peers also
using the service (provided funding is clearly highlighted by
repository).
 Research output covering entire career can be made
accessible through a single repository, independent of
mobility (visibility of research portfolio provided repository
offers corresponding functionalities).
 Increased visibility of ERC as funder of excellent research
and of ERC’s commitment to open access.
 Support to the ERC’s monitoring of grantee’s publication
activity and open access compliance (also after the end of
the grant).

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Example: ERC’s support to Europe
PubMed Central
 ERC one of currently 26 funders supporting Europe PMC.
 Funding provided through a grant (FP7 / Horizon 2020), link to
clearly defined objectives, developments, deliverables
 Strong points:
 ERC funding clearly indicated on the abstract page;
publications linked to grant information (if link made by
researcher)
 Access to back office providing data and statistics related
to uptake by ERC funded researchers, cross funding by
other Europe PMC funders.
 But: Publications funded by others before / after the ERC grant
cannot be uploaded / linked to the portfolio

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Example: ERC’s support to arXiv
 Strong use of arXiv by ERC funded researchers in relevant
domains, mainly as preprint server, but also to disseminate post-
prints.
 ERC joined arXiv sustainability initiative in 2013 - modest
contribution as one of more than 170 contributors.
 ERC contribution to demonstrate appreciation of the service as
a research tool that provides basic functionalities.
 Open for submissions independent of funding source.
Suggestions for development:
 Provide greater visibility of funder / grant information.
 Back office access to data and statistics.
 Features such as embargo periods, direct deposit by publishers.

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Future plans – Social Sciences and
Humanities
 Large degree of diversity and fragmentation across the
Social Sciences and Humanities domain.
 No specific subject-based repository recommended or
supported so far.
But:
 Monographs and book chapters important means of
publication in SH domain – presenting particular
challenges.
 ERC support foreseen to support the further development
of the OAPEN platform for open access books (pending
adoption of the 2015 Work Programme).

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Thank you for your attention!
Questions? Comments?
ERC-OPEN-ACCESS@ec.europa.eu