Results of study on open access in Horizon 2020 available

On 6 September 2021, the Commission released the results and datasets of a study monitoring the open access mandate in Horizon 2020. The report examines, monitors and quantifies compliance with the open access requirements of Horizon 2020, for both publications and research data. The results show a steady increase over the years and an average success rate of 83% open access to scientific publications. The Excellent Science pillar in Horizon 2020 has led the success story, with an open access rate of 86%. The leaders within this pillar are the European Research Council (ERC) and the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme, with open access rates of over 88%.

The study concludes with specific recommendations to improve the monitoring of compliance with the policy under Horizon Europe – which has a more stringent and comprehensive set of rights and obligations for Open Science. The data management plan and the datasets of the study are also available on data.europa.eu, the official portal for European data.

The report can be downloaded here:

Monitoring the open access policy of Horizon 2020 - Final report