Scientific publications: A key factor of the European research area

Academic publishing is at the heart of the European Research area was Mrs Dewandres’ main message and the essence of what she had to say. A staff member of the European Commission for many years, she moved to the science publishing area only recently. She was therefore interested to listen to the conference debates. She claimed that this reflected the attitude of Commissioner Potočnik with respect to science publishing1. The Commission published the result of a study that was commissioned in June 20042. This study is the basis of a public consultation lasting until June 1st. Thereafter a conference will be organised to take stock of the comments received. This result of the study and the recommendations of the authors were the core of her presentation.