EU Horizon 2020: open science requirements

The guidelines below are not applied fully in the projects funded by the European Research Council (ERC). More information about ERC requirements are available at:

Open Science in ERC Projects

--> Horizon 2020 (2014-2020)

The Horizon 2020 manual: open access and data management

All scientific peer-reviewed publications must be published open access. It is encouraged to also open the other types of scientific publications.  

Options for open access publishing

1. by publishing articles in open access journals
2. by self-archiving articles e.g. in an institutional repository (ACRIS in Aalto University)
   • Embargoes (publication delay periods) in self-archiving are allowed:
     • Humanities and social sciences: 12 months
     • Other fields: 6 months
3. by publishing articles in subscription/hybrid journals that enable open access through paying the article processing charge (APC)

Open access publishing fees (APC fees)

• 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. 

The Horizon 2020 manual: open access and data management Guidelines on FAIR Data Management in Horizon 2020 Research 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 

• 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. 

The Model Grant AgreementThe Horizon 2020 manual: open access and data managementGuidelines on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Research Data in Horizon 2020 Reporting open access in H2020 - Aalto University Wiki

General guide on data management and the overview of the DMP template

1. In the beginning of the project

   • Submit your DMP within the first 6 months of the project.
   • Horizon 2020 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).  
   • Aalto's guidance on Data Management Plans.
   • If you have justified reasons not to open some parts of the data describe the reason in the DMP.
   • Help and support available: researchdata@aalto.fi.

2. During and at completion of the project

   • 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.