Q: Who can apply for TA under the grant?
A: A user group is eligible for TA support under the grant when the user group leader and the majority of users work in EU member countries or EU associated countries, different from where the chosen installation is located. This condition is not mandatory when the access provider is an international organization, such as the JRC, an ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) or other similar legal entities representing different countries. Access for user groups with a majority of users not working in a EU or associated country is limited to 20% of the total amount of units of access provided under the grant.
Q: How to apply for TA?
A: To apply for Transnational Access, prospective users must create a User Account related to the User Group Leader, then submit their proposal by filling the TA_proposal_form that can be downloaded from the TA Call for Proposal section; information to be provided includes:
- brief description of the proposed research;
- user organizations (main user, partner users) including CVs of principal investigator and of other researchers;
- scientific basis and state-of-art;
- key points and foreseen advances;
- appropriate Transnational Access facility (1st and 2nd choice);
- total number of researchers in Transnational Access;
- target schedule;
- a slide presentation with the main points of the proposal (4-5 slides).
Q: May a student apply for TA?
A: A student cannot be the team leader of a TA proposal; however, within the users groups, a student can be active part of the project as a user.
Q: Which is the definition of "Partner" mentioned in the TA proposal form?
A: A "Partner" is an institution or company (e.g. University of Pavia).
Q: Which support is included in the access?
A: The access includes the logistical, technological and scientific support and the specific training that is usually provided to external researchers using the infrastructure.
Q: Which are the rules for publications?
A: Under Horizon 2020, each beneficiary must ensure open access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to its results. Therefore, open access is also an obligation for all SERA partners.
What does open access mean?
Open access means providing online access to peer-reviewed scientific publications that are free of charge for a reader. Open access does not mean that projects must publish all their research results as soon as they are obtained, it only sets certain requirements when the consortium wants to publish them.
3 steps to accomplish the regulations
1. Store your publication in a repository
Beneficiaries must deposit a machine-readable electronic copy of the published version or final peer-reviewed manuscript accepted for publication in a repository for scientific publications (applies to all types of publications and/or data sets) (e.g. Europe PubMed Central; arXiv; OAPEN library; Zenodo etc.). A repository for scientific publications is an online archive. Institutional, subject-based and centralised repositories are all acceptable choices. Repositories that claim rights over deposited publications and preclude access are not. This must be done as soon as possible and at the latest upon publication.
2. Provide open access
Beneficiaries can freely choose between the most appropriate route towards open access for them: Self-archiving (also referred to as 'green' open access) means that a published article or the final peer-reviewed manuscript is archived (deposited) in an online repository before, alongside or after its publication. Repository software usually allows authors to delay access to the article ('embargo period'). If this route is chosen beneficiaries must ensure open access to the publication within a maximum of six months (twelve months for publications in the social sciences and humanities). Open access publishing (also referred to as 'gold' open access) means that an article is immediately provided in open access mode (on the publisher/journal website).
3. Do not forget
Beneficiaries must also provide open access, through the repository, to the bibliographic metadata that identify the deposited publication. These must be in a standard format and must include the following:
1) terms ["European Union (EU)" & "Horizon 2020"] ["Euratom" & Euratom research & training programme 2014-2018"];
2) name of the action, acronym and grant number;
3) publication date, the length of the embargo period (if applicable) and a persistent identifier.
Detailed information is provided on this website: ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/cross-cutting-issues/open-access-dissemination_en.htm
What does open access mean?
Open access means providing online access to peer-reviewed scientific publications that are free of charge for a reader. Open access does not mean that projects must publish all their research results as soon as they are obtained, it only sets certain requirements when the consortium wants to publish them.
3 steps to accomplish the regulations
1. Store your publication in a repository
Beneficiaries must deposit a machine-readable electronic copy of the published version or final peer-reviewed manuscript accepted for publication in a repository for scientific publications (applies to all types of publications and/or data sets) (e.g. Europe PubMed Central; arXiv; OAPEN library; Zenodo etc.). A repository for scientific publications is an online archive. Institutional, subject-based and centralised repositories are all acceptable choices. Repositories that claim rights over deposited publications and preclude access are not. This must be done as soon as possible and at the latest upon publication.
2. Provide open access
Beneficiaries can freely choose between the most appropriate route towards open access for them: Self-archiving (also referred to as 'green' open access) means that a published article or the final peer-reviewed manuscript is archived (deposited) in an online repository before, alongside or after its publication. Repository software usually allows authors to delay access to the article ('embargo period'). If this route is chosen beneficiaries must ensure open access to the publication within a maximum of six months (twelve months for publications in the social sciences and humanities). Open access publishing (also referred to as 'gold' open access) means that an article is immediately provided in open access mode (on the publisher/journal website).
3. Do not forget
Beneficiaries must also provide open access, through the repository, to the bibliographic metadata that identify the deposited publication. These must be in a standard format and must include the following:
1) terms ["European Union (EU)" & "Horizon 2020"] ["Euratom" & Euratom research & training programme 2014-2018"];
2) name of the action, acronym and grant number;
3) publication date, the length of the embargo period (if applicable) and a persistent identifier.
Detailed information is provided on this website: ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/cross-cutting-issues/open-access-dissemination_en.htm