The National Documentation Center (EKT) is the co-ordinator of a new European Project which aims to record, promote and coordinate open access policies at the level of Mediterranean countries and at a national level. The project  was luched in December 2011 and will extend over the next two years. Activities in MEDOANET will contribute to the shaping of successfull open access policies by national agents, research institutions and funding bodies. The project's kick off meeting took place at the National Documentation Center  (EKT) on January, 27th.

In recent years, EKT has been a protagonist in supporting open access policies and in this direction implements a wide array of developmental activities for the promotion of  open access. The project is EKT's initiative and will proceed as part of EKT's  statutory duties and its role as a national agent for the collection, organization and distribution of scientific data and technical knowledge in both national and international realm.

MEDOANET will focus on national and regional coordination of Open Access strategies, policies and structures in six Mediterranean countries :Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Turkey. It will do so by means of strengthening, expanding and systematizing the activities of an already active regional network of partners from Mediterranean Europe.

MEDOANET will identify and map existing strategies, structures and policies of the six countries into an online Mediterranean Open Access Tracker, and, most significantly, it will identify and systematically engage significant policy makers and other stakeholders with the ability to affect change in policies, in a top-down approach. This will increase awareness of key issues at the policy level, fostering the conditions for coordinated policies at national and institutional levels that are currently largely lacking in these Mediterranean countries.

National Task Forces will be formed and national workshops will serve as forums to debate the course of action in each country in a coordinated fashion. A European workshop will bring together key policy makers from the six countries and other European experts and will contribute towards regional coordination across the partner countries and beyond.

The project will further produce guidelines for policy makers, namely research policy makers, public research funders, such as National Research Councils, and institution administrators, such as rectors - common for all the countries. A European conference will serve to place the project outcomes in a wider context, as well as bring together stakeholders from the six Mediterranean countries and the rest of Europe in an effort to further coordinate discourse towards policy actions that will strengthen the Open Access paradigm. To benefit from the valuable experience and expertise in Northern Europe, the consortium will also include three strategic partners from the region.

MEDOANET is funded by the European Seventh Framework Programme (Science in Society 2011/Coordination and Support Action) with 746.695 euros. Nine partners are taking part in the project's consurtium (bodies with significant experience and expertise in issues related with open access policies):  The National Documentation Center (EKT, the project's coordinator), CASPUR (Consorzio Interuniversitario per le Applicazioni di Supercalcolo Per Università e Ricerca, Italy), CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France), το FECYT (Fundacion Espagnola par la Ciencia y la Technologia, Spain), Minho University (Portugal), university of Hacettepe (Turkey), LIBER (Association of Euroepan Research Libraries), University of Nottingham (UK), ENCES (European Network For Copyright in Support of Education and Science, Germany).