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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Core objective: Enable sustained coordination and guidance at the European level on institutional non-profit open access publishing.
Target recipients: Consortia of at least three independent legal entities, with each entity established in a different EU Member State or Associated Country, and at least two entities established in an EU Member State.
Designation: SECTOR-SPECIFIC (scholarly publishing, open science).
Geographic scope: EU Member States and Associated Countries. Projects should have a European focus, aligning services across Europe.
Key filtering criteria: Applicant must be part of a compliant consortium, focused on developing and coordinating services for institutional non-profit open access publishers.
Grant frequency: Part of the Horizon Europe Work Programme, likely a recurring program context within the broader framework.

Financial Structure

Total budget for the HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-06-ERA-02 topic: 2000000.0 EUR.
Expected grants for this topic: 1.
Minimum contribution per grant: 2000000.0 EUR.
Maximum contribution per grant: 2000000.0 EUR.
Currency: EUR.
Financial support to third parties: Permitted.
Form of financial support to third parties: Only in the form of grants.
Maximum amount to be granted to each third party: 60000.0 EUR.
Eligible and ineligible costs: Described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes (specific details not provided here).
Financial and operational capacity assessment is required.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Type and Structure

Consortium required: Yes.
Minimum participants: At least three independent legal entities must participate as beneficiaries.
Geographic diversity: Each participating entity must be established in a different EU Member State or Associated Country.
EU Member State presence: At least two of the participating entities must be established in an EU Member State.
Independent legal entities: Definition not specified in the provided documents, but implies legally distinct organizations.

Financial and Operational Capacity

Applicants must meet financial and operational capacity requirements as described in Annex C of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Specific details on these requirements are not provided in the current document.

Exclusion Criteria

Standard exclusion criteria apply as described in Annex C of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Specific disqualifying factors are not detailed here.

Application Process

Application platform: Electronic Submission Service via the Funding & Tenders Portal.
Application form template: Standard application form (HE CSA).
Submission procedure: Single-stage.
Submission session available from: 2025-05-15.
Submission deadline: 2025-09-18 00:00:00+0000.
To access draft proposals, applicants must login to the Funding & Tenders Portal and navigate to 'My Proposals' page in 'My Area' section.

Required Documentation and Materials

Proposal page limit and layout: Described in Part B of the Application Form, which is available in the Submission System.
General admissibility conditions: Described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Standard application form (HE CSA) must be used.

Evaluation Process

Evaluation form template: Standard evaluation form (HE CSA) will be used with necessary adaptations.
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: Described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Project Implementation Timeline

Grant duration parameter: The duration of this action should not exceed 3 years.

Support and Guidance

A wide range of support is available, including the Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk, ETSI Research Helpdesk, European Charter for Researchers, and Code of Conduct.
Partner search: Supported and available via the portal.

Evaluation Criteria

Award Criteria, Scoring, and Thresholds

The specific award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes (details not provided in this document).

Expected Outcomes and Scope Alignment

Proposals are expected to contribute to the following impacts:
- 'Sustainable high quality institutional non-profit open access publishing services indexed in research information systems adhering to national research assessment standards'.
- 'Increased capacity in the EU R&I system to conduct open science and establishing it as the prevailing approach in modern research approaches'.
Projects are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- Broader range of services for developing skills and competencies of institutional non-profit publishers, offered centrally at European and national level.
- Increased alignment of institutional non-profit open access publishing services across Europe to commonly agreed quality standards (e.g., ownership/governance, editorial/publishing policies and practices, research integrity, open science, technical service efficiency).
- Well-connected and effective European network focused on institutional non-profit open access publishing, with broad recognition across academic disciplines.
Proposals should address at least the following:
- Provision of services to institutional non-profit publishing initiatives, including guidance, quality assessment, access to tools and technology, and support for meeting technological standards (e.g., interoperability). Complementarity between activities at European, national, and institutional level must be ensured.
- Organization of training programmes for all stakeholders in institutional non-profit open access publishing to support skill development and facilitate exchanges of electronic publishing specialists across the European Research Area. Activities should aim to embed support for such publishing services within institutions and national research assessment systems.
- Coordination of services and practices to exploit synergies and create efficiencies, including pooling resources at European level. Resources developed should be available to all managing institutional non-profit open access publishing in Europe, with attention to equitable access and distribution.
- The action may build on and valorise results of earlier projects and relevant national and European initiatives.
- The action should address both articles and monograph/book publishing.
Alignment requirements: The action supports the ERA Policy Agenda Action 1 – Enable Open Science, including through the European Open Science Cloud.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Legal and financial set-up of the grants: Described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Compliance with EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 is required.
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment, and Financial Capacity Assessment must be followed.

Strategic Alignment

This action explicitly supports the ERA Policy Agenda Action 1 – Enable Open Science, including through the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).
The grant's objectives are informed by the Council Conclusions on ‘high quality, transparent, open, trustworthy and equitable scholarly publishing’ adopted in May 2023.

Intellectual Property Policies

Guidance on intellectual property issues is available through the European IPR Helpdesk. No unique project-specific IP policies are detailed beyond general Horizon Europe guidelines.

Inclusivity and Equity

The grant emphasizes the importance of equitable scholarly open access publishing models, where authors can publish their work regardless of institutional affiliation or funding source, with no fees to them or their readers.
Support for publishing models led by public research organizations is highlighted.
Activities should ensure equitable access to and distribution of resources developed.

Grant Details