Context and background

• the findings of the ‘Study on the Economic and Technical Evolution of Scientific Publications Markets in Europe’ (European  Commission, DG Research, project report, January 2006)
• the subsequent major conference in Brussels in February 2007 held jointly by the European Commission’s DG Research and DG Information and Media, ‘Scientific Publishing in the Digital Age’
• the outstanding success of the research community’s petition on Open Access to Scientific Information to the European Commissioner for Research (summary of petition and its presentation)
• the recommendations on Open Access of the European Research Advisory Board (EURAB)
• the mandatory policy on Open Access to research it funds under the Seventh Framework Programme from the European Research Council
• the approval by the US Congress in December 2007 of the National Institutes of Health’s mandatory Open Access policy, and its implementation in April 2008
• the growing number of mandatory policies on Open Access from universities and research funders
• the European University Association recommendations on Open Access adopted by the EUA Council in March 2008

European policy developments summaries

There have been a number of policy developments at European level on Open Access. The story to date (May 2010) is summarised in a paper by Dr David Prosser, Director of Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and another paper documenting European Commission developments on OA can be found here.