Towards Open Science: The vision of the European Commission

The Digital Single Market is a priority initiative of the new European Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker. The Digital Single Market is an area in which businesses and individuals can access and exercise online activities under conditions of fair competition, with a high degree of consumer and data protection, irrespective of their nationality or place of residence.1 Three European Commissioners are involved with research and innovation issues within the Digital Single Market: Andrus Ansip (Estonia) is Vice President for the Digital Single Market; Günther Oettinger (Germany) is the Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society; and Carlos Moedas (Portugal) is the Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation. Given the relatively recent emergence of digital markets, high levels of research and innovation characterize the market, with open science an increasingly crucial ingredient. Commissioner Oettinger, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Academic Publishing in Europe, transmitted the following greeting to APE participants: “Ladies and gentlemen, you are meeting in Berlin to discuss the future for scholarly communication and publishing, as you have for the past 10 years. That is impressive. I congratulate you. Scientific publishing is a European success story. In the industry, the EU accounts for about 40% of employment and one third of revenue. You address issues like open access, open research data, peer review, quality assurance and copyright. From the perspective of the European Commission, the issues you address are connected with a new broad policy initiative, the Digital Single Market – a key priority to be adopted in 2015. One of its cornerstones is a robust research and innovation policy. In a digital environment, one key ingredient for that is open science. Open Science is the transformation, opening up and democratisation of science research and innovation through information and communication technologies. Open science includes open access, support of e-infrastructures, citizen science, and alternative metrics. It leads to more robust and efficient science, improved transparency, and increased citizen participation. It facilitates innovation through the free circulation of knowledge. A central role of academic publishers has always been to enable knowledge circulation. Digital technologies have made this much easier. It is now time to capitalize on this potential. I rely on academic