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Research in the STM fields is heavily based on data sets and computers, and, in fact, nowadays it relies more and more on collaborative research enabled by internet technologies. Such collaborative research is heavily dependent on the development of large virtual data centers accessible particular research partners or to everyone. Thus, it comes as no surprise that most data centers, and indeed those operating under the Open Access principle, are being developed in the STM fields. The social sciences, and particularly the humanities, are lagging behind. Two indicative examples of Open Access data centers are the GenBank of the US National Institutes for Health and the Archaeology Data Services , an archaeological data center supported by York University in the UK.

The debate over the access to research data is not new. In 2004, in a "Declaration on Access to Research Data", a declaration signed by Greece, the OECD announced its support towards Open Access to research data while calling attention to issues of intellectual property and economic interests. Subsequently, in 2007, it published its "Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding" . In 2007 the Council of Europe in its conclusions on "Scientific Information in the Digital Age" acknowledged the significance of Open Access to research data and asked EU member-states to shape national strategies regarding access to data and the long-term preservation of data.

Nonetheless, according to the recently released results of a survey of EU member-states carried out by CREST (Comite de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique) national policies on access to research data are not well developed in the EU. A Nature News special on Datasharing this past September shows that the problem is not unique to the EU. While the significance of Open Access to research data is not at all in doubt, several issues complicate the release of data in Open Access format by researchers of disciplines. Chief among them is the concern over intellectual property rights and privacy. Other issues are interoperability standards and migration from old formats to interoperable files, the choice of the data to be offered in Open Access format, the citation standards for data etc.

The National Documentation Centre actively contributes towards Open Access to research data by developing an Open Access application in collaboration with the Institute of Biological Research and Biotechnology of the National Hellenic Research Foundation for the rapid processing and analysis of DNA microarray high-throughput experiments, using Grid infrastructure (www.grissom.gr ). The aim is to effectively utilize heterogeneous and unconsolidated medical and biological databases. The end products of the project will be exploited by organizations, services or industries of the healthcare/biotechnology sector with the scope to further promote the quality of medical services. The application is being developed with funding from the project ‘National Information System for Research and Technology, Phase III.