Digital Single Market Directive: Harmonised EU approach needed to ensure public access to scientific discoveries

Today, many scientific publications remain behind paywalls, and concerns persist about the limited reusability of open access content. The European Commission’s ongoing review of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive is therefore a valuable opportunity to reiterate that data and digital legislation must protect academic freedom for institutions and researchers.

In response to the Commission’s call for evidence, EUA stresses that public access to scientific discoveries is essential for knowledge creation, valorisation and maximising public investment. A harmonised EU approach can enable this through a combination of EU‑wide secondary publication rights and robust exceptions for research and text and data mining. These measures would strengthen Europe’s research sovereignty and strategic autonomy by ensuring that publicly funded research outputs remain accessible and reusable across the Union, allowing Europe to fully capitalise on its knowledge base.

Consult EUA’s input in full