The European Commission promotes open science and research, which is why they set requirements for the openness of research publications and data they are funding. The European Commission (EC) participates in the open access initiative Plan S, which affects the open access and open data requirements in calls starting in 2021.
The content of this page is subject to change. Always check the detailed information about funder policies on the funders' websites.
European Commission: Horizon 2020
The guidelines below are not applied fully in the projects funded by the European Research Council (ERC). Check out the ERC guidelines.
All scientific peer-reviewed publications must be published open access. It is encouraged to also open the other types of scientific publications.
The articles should be made open in one of the following ways:
by publishing articles in the Open Access journals,
by publishing articles in the subscription-based journals that enable open access, i.e. the payment of an article processing charge (APC) is a condition for opening (hybrid open access).
Embargoes (publication delay periods) for the opening of publications is allowed
Humanities and social sciences: 12 months
Other fields: 6 months
Please also note that
The article processing charges (APCs) are eligible costs during the project
The project’s open access publications must be reported in the EU’s funding and tender opportunities portal. Further instructions.
Data management requirements in Horizon 2020
Data Management Plan (DMP)
The data management plan is submitted within the first 6 months of the project.
The DMP template is provided but the use of it is a recommendation.
In general, the template guides you to describe how you will make your research data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR).
If you have justified reasons not to open some parts of the data describe the reason in the DMP.
The DMP must be updated. Typically, updates are made at the same time as the periodic evaluations. The update needs to be made together with the final review if there are no scheduled reviews.
The current requirement is that the data must be published in a data repository to ensure the validation of the research results. If you are unsure whether you should publish your data or not, please check your project’s Grant Agreement (article 29.3 Open access to research data).
It is possible to opt out of making the data open for justified reasons such as
to protect results that can be exploited commercially
to protect personal data
disclosure of data would jeopardize the achievement of the project objectives
Please also note that
Open access to data is not an evaluation criterion of the project proposal
If it is not possible to open the data, explain the justified reasons in the application and opt-out to open the data
If you notice only after the funding decision that the data cannot be opened, you must request for an amendment to the contract
Properly managed research data creates competitive edge and is an important part of a high-quality research process. Here you will find links to support, services and instructions for research data management.