The present model policy aims to assist Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) in developing policies for Open Science/ Open Access.

The proposed policy aims at aligning institutional policies with the 2012 Recommendation of the European Commission on access to and preservation of scientific information and its 2018 update, the Horizon 2020 Guidelines on the rules of open access to scientific publications and research data, the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council establishing Horizon Europe - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, laying down its rules for participation and dissemination (COM/2018/435 final) and the Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing the specific programme implementing Horizon Europe - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (COM/2018/436 final) and takes into consideration important developments at EU-level related to Open Science/ Open Access such as the 2016 European Council Conclusions on the transition towards an Open Science system, the “Plan S” and “cOAlition S”, the developments of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and in particular the EOSC Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, the action lines of the European Open Science Policy Platform, the Communication “A new ERA for Research and Innovation” and the 2019 EU Directive on open data and the re-use of public sector information, the Report "Towards a 2030 Vision on the Future of Universities in Europe”. In addition, the document also takes into consideration other related reports from university associations like EUA’s “Perspectives on the new European Research Area from the university sector” and “Universities without walls: A vision for 2030”, the Guild of European research intensive universities “Looking to the Future: the Guild’s Vision for Europe’s Universities” and other associations like the Science Europe practical guide  to the “International Alignment of Research Data Management”. 

The model policy has been prepared as part of a toolkit for policy makers on Open Science and Open Access in the context of the EU-funded OpenAIRE Advance project that supported Open Access/ Open Data mandates in Europe. The proposed policy draws heavily on the UNESCO Open Science policy development process and UNESCO Open Access policy development guidelines, the MedOANet guidelines for Open Access, PASTEUR4OA Toolkit and Policy Guidelines, the RECODE project policy recommendations for Open Access policies to research data, the LEARN project Model Research Data Management Policy, and the SPARC Europe report on Open Data and Open Science policies in Europe.

The Model Policy on Open Science for Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) is composed by 10 topics which defines the policy adopted by the organisation.

This model available for download, can be adapted by a RPO, having only to complete the specific information about their activity.