In May 2016, the European project Pasteur4OA organised its final conference in Amsterdam. euroCRIS was one the participants in this project. The theme of the conference was 'Green Light for Open Access" Aligning Europe's Open Access Policies'.
The conference dates coincide with the Dutch EU Presidency, in which Open Access (OA) has been named as a priority. Therefore, this final conference has been officially associated to the Dutch EU Presidency.
During the conference many different aspects of Open Access to publications (and to research data) are discussed. Ron Dekker (NWO, Netherlands) stresses the importance of a sustainable infrastructure. Where Gerard Meijer (RU, Netherlands) sees a transition into an OA-world without a change of the current peer review system, Jean-Pierre Finance (EUA, Belgium) foresees a diminishing role for publishers in an open, fair, transparent and sustainable scientific ecosystem.
One of the important outcomes of the project is the realisation of Knowledge Net. In this Knowledge Net, Key Node organisations collaborate in the monitoring and championing of an aligned policy environment across Europe.
During the conferences activities of several European countries on OA policies are discussed. Most countries want to realise 100 % OA to publications in 10 years’ time. A point of attention are the Article Procession Costs (APCs). We have to prevent to exchange the serials crisis for an APC crisis. Monitoring this OA is becoming more and more important. Preliminary data suggest that at the moment the percentage real OA documents is still rather low (less than 20 %).
Where the universities and libraries still have a focus on OA to publications, the funders’ focus has changed from publications to access to research data and to the realisation of Data Management Plans (DMPs). Research data should be as open as possible (but restricted access is a reality, if needed).
For the future, a common policy on dealing with OA publications and research data is foreseen. Open Science will replace Open Access. This Open Science environment will have a knowledge infrastructure in which long-term preservation will be a very important aspect.