SPARC Europe documents

SPARC Europe papers

SPARC Europe publishes briefing papers, position papers, opinion pieces and talking points to support the Open Access and Open Science communities on specific topics.
We have published the following papers so far. Click to view or download them.

• Opening Knowledge: Retaining Rights and Licensing in Europe 2023
  This report investigates the current landscape of non-legislative policy practices affecting researchers and authors in the authors’ rights and licensing domain. It includes a set of recommendations for institutional policymakers, funders and legislators, and publishers.
• An Analysis of Open Science Policies in Europe, v7, 2021
  This report looks at national Open Science policies in Europe. It is the 7th update in a series. This report gives an update on OS policy development in Europe. In addition, this version also contains a new section on international OS policy developments, together with updates on policy-related activities among European Commission-supported INFRAEOSC 5b projects.
• OA Diamond Journal Study Findings and Recommendations, 2021
  SPARC Europe was significantly involved in this unique study into the global OA diamond landscape.
• Scoping the Open Science Infrastructure Landscape in Europe, 2020
  This report provides insights into the Open Science infrastructure offering in Europe, how open it is and how sustainable.
• Open Access: An Analysis of Publisher Copyright and Licensing Policies in Europe, 2020
  This report investigates the copyright retention policy amongst publishers, self-archiving policies and records publisher policies on open licensing, also as relating to the Plan S requirements on rights and licensing.
• An Analysis of Open Science Policies in Europe v6, 2020
  This report looks at national Open Science policies in Europe. It is the 6th update in a series. It also reports on EOSC project activity in this area and on Covid-19 this time.
• Open Education in Libraries of Higher Education, 2020
  This report is the result of a survey conducted by SPARC Europe into the policy and practices of OE in libraries of Higher Education in Europe.
• FAIRSFAIR Policy Enhancement Recommendations, 2020
  This report was a deliverable for the FAIRSFAIR Project making recommendations to national policymakers, funders, Higher Ed institutions and publishers based on the Turning FAIR into Reality (TFiR) report.
• Open Science in the era of the Coronavirus, 2020
  SPARC Europe’s view on how Open Science has influenced the global response to COVID-19; also bringing into stark relief what still must be done.We cannot return to business-as-usual once this current crisis passes.
• An Analysis of Open Science Policies in Europe v5, 2020
  This report looks at national Open Science policies in Europe. It is the 5th update in a series.
  This report takes a deep dive into a range of national policies.
• Insights into European research funder Open policies and practices, 2019
  This report is the result of a survey conducted in Spring 2019 asking European research funders about their Open Science policies, rewards and incentives.
• An Analysis of Open Science Policies in Europe v4, 2019
  This report looks at national Open Data and Open Science policies in Europe: at who has led them, how hard or soft are they and other policy characteristics. It is the 4th update in a series.
• Using open and FAIR data to increase research efficiency , 2019
  This briefing looks at some of the economics of open and FAIR data.
• Research Integrity through Open Science and FAIR Data , 2019
  This briefing paper looks at how Open Science and FAIR data contributes to research integrity goals.
• SCOSS Progress Report -- An Evaluation of the SCOSS Pilot Project , 2019
  This report analyses the SCOSS Pilot and takes lessons learnt into the 2nd SCOSS funding cycle.
• SPARC Europe reaction to Guidance on the implementation of Plan S , 2019
  This is SPARC Europe’s position on Plan S’s implementation guidance published in 2018.
• FAIR and Open Data: A Briefing for Policymakers and Senior Managers , 2018
  This briefing paper demystifies common misconceptions around FAIR and Open Data and advocates for both to be addressed in research data policy.
• An Analysis of Open Data and Open Science Policies in Europe, Update 3 , 2018
  This report looks at national Open Data and Open Science policies in Europe: at who has led them, how hard or soft are they and other policy characteristics. It is the 3rd update in a series.
• Developing an Open Science Policy in Cyprus, A Case Study , 2018
  This case study describes the development of an Open Science policy in a small European country.
• Open Data Case Study: UK Concordat on Open Research Data , 2017
  This case study describes the UK’s Concordat or agreed principles for working with open research data in the UK in a more harmonised way.
• SPARC Europe Briefing on the Value of Open Data to Institutions , 2017
  This briefing paper provides guidance to the risks and benefits of Open Data and RDM for institutional research managers.
• SPARC Europe Open Data Citation Advantage Briefing , 2017
  This SPARC Europe briefing paper shows some of the evidence that open data practice is having a positive impact on certain academic domains.
• Making moves towards the large-scale transition to Open Access, R Schimmer , 2017
  This opinion piece is by Ralf Schimmer who makes an ambitious proposal on how to flip to Open Access in a global concerted effort
• Better ways to evaluate research and researchers , 2015
  This briefing paper addresses the issue of research evaluation, which is at the core of scholarly communication. It also looks at alternative metrics for the more effective assessment of research.
• Electronic Publication: Intended and Unintended Consequences , 2015
  A SPARC Europe talking points paper on developments in electronic publishing for the Humanities from the Getty Research Institute.
• Text and data mining for research and innovation purposes, and its importance , 2014
  SPARC Europe’s recommendations to the European Commission and the European Parliament on changing European copyright law to ensure easy access to data for text and data miners.
• What is the best licensing framework for scholarly material? 2014
  SPARC Europe’s guidance on licensing scholarly work.
• A SPARC Europe Talking Points paper on Peer Review , 2014
  Putting librarians and researchers more in the picture about current peer review, especially in respect of Open Access journals.
• Publishers’ Content-Mining Policies , 2014
  Alerting the library community to publisher text-mining and data-mining policy changes, the potential issues surrounding them and how to respond to them.
• Open Access in the Social Sciences , 2013
  A briefing paper highlighting the benefits of publishing Open Access for social scientists.
• Open Access for the Humanities , 2013
  Pointers for Humanities researchers on the Open Access outlets available and the issues surrounding them.