A summary of the key elements of the Horizon Europe open science policy and a detailed presentation of the European Commission's open access publishing platform, Open Research Europe

1. Open Science in Horizon
Europe: publications &
Open Research Europe
Victoria Tsoukala, PhD
European Commission, Directorate-General for Research & Innovation,
Unit ‘Open Science’ Veranstaltungsreihe KoWi Vernetzt: Open Access
in Horizon Europe und Open Research Europe
September 7th, 2021

2. • Open science has the potential to increase
• Quality & efficiency of R&I, if all the produced results are shared, made reusable, and if
their reproducibility is improved
• Creativity, through collective intelligence and cross-disciplinary research that does not
require laborious data wrangling
• Trust in the science system, by engaging both researchers & citizens
Why do we need Open Science?

3. Open Science in Horizon
Europe: key elements

4. “Open science” means an approach to the scientific process based on open
cooperative work, tools and diffusing knowledge
(Horizon Europe Regulation and Model Grant Agreement)
The concepts of Open Science, Open Innovation, Open to the World should ensure
excellence and impact of the Union´s investment in research and innovation, while
safeguarding the Union´s interests
(Recital 7, Horizon Europe Regulation)
The work programme may provide for additional incentives or obligations for adhering
to open science practices
(Article 39, Horizon Europe Regulation)
Open Science in Horizon Europe

5. The Model Grant Agreement (article 17)
• Immediate open access to peer-reviewed publications (via trusted repositories and under
open licenses, CC BY + ND/NC for long texts) must be ensured. Beneficiaries/authors must
retain sufficient intellectual property rights to comply with the open access requirements (rights
retention). Technical metadata requirements (e.g. PIDs).
• Responsible management of research data must be ensured in line under the FAIR principles.
Data Management Plans are mandatory if generating or re-using data. Open access to research
data follows the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” (legitimate
interests/constraints). Technical metadata requirements (e.g. PIDs).
• Validation of research and reproducibility: a) information to be provided via repository on
any research output or tools and instruments needed to validate conclusions of scientific
publication or data or their re-use; b) digital or physical access to be provided to data or
other results needed for validation of the conclusions of scientific publications, to the extent that
their legitimate interests or constraints are safeguarded.
• Call conditions may impose additional obligations regarding open science practices
• Cases of public emergency. Extended obligations for immediate open access to all research
outputs beyond publications. Exceptions apply and non-exclusive licenses for use to be provided.

6. What? How? Mandatory in all calls/recommended
Early and open sharing of
research
Preregistration, registered reports,
preprints, etc.
Recommended
Research output
management
Data management plan (DMP) Mandatory
Measures to ensure
reproduciblity of research
outputs
Information on outputs/tools/instruments
and access to data/results for validation of
publications
Mandatory
Open access to research
outputs through
deposition in trusted
repositories
• Open access to publications
• Open access to data
• Open access to software, models,
algorithms, workflows etc.
• Mandatory for peer-reviewed publications
• Mandatory for research data but with exceptions (‘as
open as possible…’)
• Recommended for other research outputs
Participation in open
peer-review
Publishing in open peer-reviewed journals
or platforms
Recommended
Involving all relevant
knowledge actors
Involvement of citizens, civil society and
end-users in co-creation of content (e.g.
crowd-sourcing, etc.)
Recommended
Open Science practices
• Open science practices listed in the template for proposals (section excellence>methodology)
• Non-exhaustive list
• Mandatory in all calls: Model Grant Agreement or call requirement; all the rest recommended

7. “Excellence” criterion
(methodology)
• Evaluation of the quality of open science
practices
• Up to 1 page to describe Open Science
practices + up to 1 page to describe
research data/output management
• Evaluation concerns mandatory and
recommended practices
“Quality and efficiency of
implementation” criterion
(capacity of participants and consortium as a
whole + list of achievements)
• Explain expertise on Open Science
• List publications, software, data, etc, relevant to the
project with qualitative assessment and, where
available, persistent identifiers
Publications are expected to be open access; datasets are
expected to be FAIR and ‘as open as possible, as closed as
necessary‘. Significance of publications to be evaluated on the
basis of proposers’ qualitative assessment and not per Journal
Impact Factor
Evaluation of proposals and Open Science

8. • Webinar: How to prepare a successful proposal in Horizon Europe (24 March
2021)
• Open Science at 00:53:00
• Q&A (including on Open Science) from 1:09:00
• Webinar: A successful proposal for Horizon Europe: Scientific-technical
excellence is key, but don’t forget the other aspects (21 April 2021)
• Presentation: Open Science
Open Science in Horizon Europe explained

9. MGA
• Horizon Europe Grant Agreement (article 17, p. 107)
Guidance on open science in Horizon Europe
• Horizon Europe Annotated Model Grant Agreement (p.154 ff.)
• Horizon Europe Data Management Plan Template (under reference documents of the
Funding and Tenders portal).
• Horizon Europe Programme Guide (p. 38 ff. with extensive analysis of open science practices
and the evaluation process; good for POs and for evaluators)
Resources

10. Open Research Europe (ORE)
The open access publishing platform for Horizon 2020 and Horizon
Europe beneficiaries

11. Why Open Research Europe?
• Support our open access policy and beneficiary capacity to adhere to it and also enables
publishing post-grant
• Leading by example in operationalising open science principles within scientific publishing
and enabling the European Research Area
• Contribute to transparency and cost-effectiveness and explore sustainable open access
publishing business models
What is Open Research Europe?
• A peer-reviewed publishing platform. Not a repository. Post-publication peer-review model.
First you publish, then review takes place. Publication and review reports open access under
CC BY licenses
Open Research Europe

12. • High-quality, reliable and efficient publishing venue for EU research
• High scientific standards, and swift and transparent processes
• Oversight by an independent Scientific Advisory Board covering STM, Social Sciences
and Humanities
• Implements open science practices and advances the European Research Area
• No cost to authors/beneficiaries
• No administrative burden either
• Venue where grantees can publish post-grant the results of their work, while
respecting their open access obligations
• Is not (and never will be) an obligation to use!
Main assets of ORE

13. • Original articles for review
• i.e. stemming from Horizon 2020-funded research and Horizon Europe
and not submitted or published elsewhere
• It is not a repository
• All scientific areas of Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe covered; specific
policies and guidelines
• Immediate open access, with content licensed for re-use
• Open peer review (i.e. open reviewer identities, published reviews, post-
publication comments)
The publishing service (1/2)

14. • Diversity of metrics at article level
• Explicit, accessible and transparent on business processes and publication
policies (all published on the site for everyone to see)
• Other funders do this as well, such as the Wellcome Trust (Wellcome Open
Research) and others
• Publisher F1000 was awarded a tender after a public competition for 5.8
million euros and is the service provider for the ORE infrastructure and
publishing services.
The publishing service (2/2)

15. At least one author must be involved in a running or finished Horizon
2020/Europe project from the European Commission and the article must be a
result of that project. The article must be original work.
Currently unable to publish:
• JRC when outside of Horizon 2020/Europe
• Euratom (different Framework Programme with a different Treaty)
• Cascading grants (e.g. COST beneficiaries)
The Commission is currently addressing the issue with its legal department
Who can publish?

16. Open Research Europe publishing model
PUBLICATION UNDERGOING PEER REVIEW PASSED PEER REVIEW
!!Pre publication checks and production

17. Upon Submission
• Assess author eligibility
• Check article scope
• Check for plagiarism
Pre-publication Checks
• Comprehensive checks on
reporting, editorial & ethical
guidelines
• Check for data availability
• Support authors in making
data and software FAIR
Production
• Converted to text and data-
mining formats (PDF, HTML,
XML)
• Proofs and editing if necessary
• Quality checks on citations,
references, image resolutions
& multimedia
• Ensure persistent identifiers
are assigned and resolve
correctly
Prepublication checks and production

18. Open Identities
• Reviewers must provide
name and affiliation
• Must identify conflicting
interests
Open Reports
• Reviewer reports will be
published alongside the
article
• These are citable and have
viewing metrics
Open Review Status
• Reviewers assign a status
Open Peer Review

19. Authors can respond to reviewers and revise their articles based on the comments
Revisions are made through new versions of the article that are linked together (versions are
limitless)
Authors need to achieve a certain ‘threshold’ of reviewer status to be ‘pass peer review’ and
be indexed:
Passing Peer Review
2 ‘Approved’ Status
1 ‘Approved’ Status and 2 ‘Approved with reservations’

20. Editorial guidelines and policies specifically
for:
- Science, Technology & Medicine (STM)
- Social Sciences
- Humanities
Data guidelines and policies in line with
European Commission policies
ORE supports many different article types to
support disciplinary areas
Content is searchable by subject areas and by
Horizon 2020/Europe programme areas.
Supporting research across all disciplines

21. • https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/
• https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/about
• https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/faqs
• Open Research Europe infographic
• Open Research Europe playlist in DG R& I Youtube channel
• @OpenResearch_EU Twitter account
ORE resources

22. Thank you
© European Union 2021
Reuse of this presentation authorised
under the CC BY 4.0 license.