The Science Europe Briefing Paper identifies the key issues at stake in implementing a policy of Open Access to academic books, and outlines recommendations for different stakeholder groups to facilitate and accelerate such a policy.

The objective of the study was to investigate ways to ascertain that the research assessment processes and practices of SE member organisations (SE MOs) (as well as a hand-picked selection of external research organisations) are selecting the best proposals for funding and the best researchers in career progression schemes, and are doing so in a fair and efficient manner. Major findings of the extensive study are presented in this report, which is guided by the following 3 questions: What approaches are used to assess and select proposals and researchers in a robust, fair and transparent manner? What are the challenges that research organisations face during the assessment processes? What are the current developments in the assessment of research proposals and researchers?

Open Access, as defined in the Berlin Declaration, means unrestricted, online access to peer-reviewed, scholarly research papers for reading and productive re-use, not impeded by any financial, organisational, legal or technical barriers. Ideally, the only restriction on use is an obligation to attribute the work to the author. Science Europe Member Organisation are committed to a shared set of principles on Open Access to ensure consistency and coherence in their efforts and activities.