The European Commission has published a new report on the impact of “open data”, stating that over 50% of scienctific articles published in 2011 are now avaliable for free. By making research results more accessible, open access can contribute to better and more efficient science, and to innovation in the public and private sectors.

The Commission will make open access to scientific publications a general principle of Horizon 2020. As of 2014, all articles produced with funding from Horizon 2020 will have to be accessible:

• articles will either immediately be made accessible online by the publisher (“gold” and “hybrid” open access) – up-front publication costs can be eligible for reimbursement by the European Commission; or
• researchers will make their articles available through an open access repository no later than six months (12 months for articles in the fields of social sciences and humanities) after publication (“green” open access).

To read the full reports you can go to this LINK