STM NEWSROOM

On 16 July, the European Commission presented the first draft of its 2028-34 budget, which includes €175 billion for Horizon Europe — nearly double its current funding. Horizon Europe would remain a standalone programme, although the €175 billion would be part of the €409 billion European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) and the €1.8 trillion Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF)….

The EU Commission released three key documents last month for the implementation of the EU AI Act’s rules for providers of general-purpose AI models, related to the obligations that took effect on 2 August: The Code of Practice outlines voluntary measures regarding transparency, copyright and safety and security. These guidelines clarify the scope of the definition and obligations of providers….

Last month, the US unveiled its AI Action Plan accompanied by three executive orders. Taken together, the efforts aim to remove any road blocks from the active development and deployment of American AI. Counter to the Biden Administration’s risk-based approach, the executive orders and action plan focus instead on promoting the unrestricted use and development of AI,…

In a memo last month that may be an indicator of things to come, the USDA announced that it will ‘place America First in provisioning all USDA funds’ and begin reviewing all contracts and grants for interaction with foreign entities. The memo also requires recipients of USDA funding to disclose any association with foreign entities and ‘certify…

For the past two years, the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Act has prevented the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) from implementing the Nelson Memo, which would provide free access to all federally funded research. This year’s draft of the appropriations bill upholds that decision. The updated draft contains new language, however, about Congress’s concerns over…

Following its announcement last month that the US National Institutes of Health would implement a cap on allowable publication costs and associated comments that OSTP Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya made in interviews (here and here), NIH has announced five potential options for limiting the amount of taxpayer money that goes to support publishing: Disallow all publication costs. Set a limit on allowable costs per publication (e.g., $2000). Option 2,…

The European Commission will soon launch a study to evaluate the 2019 EU Copyright Directive—examining its benefits, implementation challenges, and unresolved issues, particularly around text and data mining (TDM) exceptions for commercial and scientific research. Beyond the evaluation, the Commission will explore potential new measures to support the development of a licensing market that enables…

Updates remain limited on the Code of Practice for General-Purpose AI and the accompanying template for a sufficiently detailed summary of training content. Both documents are currently with the EU’s new AI Office, which will consult the AI Board (Member State representatives) during June. Latest reports suggest the Code, the summary template, and the General-Purpose…

A call for evidence and a detailed questionnaire will be launched in the coming weeks on the official consultation page. In parallel, a new study will begin to assess the economic impact of proposed measures—such as an EU-wide Secondary Publication Right and changes to copyright exceptions for scientific research—on stakeholders including publishers. It will be…

STM, along with cOAlition S and library organisations across the globe, provided feedback on the new draft revised Tri-Agency Open Access (OA) Policy on Publications. Our comment supported the flexibility in the draft policy while making several suggestions for changes or clarifications: Maintain recognition of publisher investments in vetted, validated, peer-reviewed articles Find ways to…