A public consultation was held between July and September 2014 to gather the opinions of a broad sample of interested parties from across the EU research landscape.
The three main objectives of the consultation, as identified by the Commission, were:
• To assess the degree of awareness amongst the stakeholders of the changing modus operandi;
• To assess the perception of the opportunities and challenges; and
• To identify possible policy implications and actions to strengthen the competitiveness of the European science and research system by enabling it to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by Science 2.0.
While the consultation was open to all citizens, organisations and public authorities, the Commission identified several groups that it would mainly target as respondents: universities and university associations, research performing organisations, research funding organisations, scientific libraries, academies, learned societies, scholarly publishers and intermediaries, and businesses in fields related to open science or Science 2.0.