Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH
Wiley
The publishing house, founded in 1921 as Verlag Chemie, can look back on a publishing tradition of over 100 years.
ID: 315632746146-06
Lobbying Activity
Response to European Research Area (ERA) Act
10 Sept 2025
Wiley welcomes the European Commissions initiative to legislate the European Research Area (ERA) and appreciates the opportunity to contribute to the impact assessment process. As a global publisher and active member of STM, we support the ERA's ambition to foster a single market for researchers, scientific knowledge, and technology. Academic publishers are essential enablers of the ERA. Through sustained investment in infrastructure, editorial systems, and innovation, we facilitate the dissemination, curation, access, and preservation of scholarly knowledge. Our mission centers on ensuring the trustworthiness of research outputs via rigorous peer review, integrity checks, and the maintenance of the authoritative Version of Record (VoR). The ERA Act's goal to strengthen the free circulation of knowledge must be matched by a commitment to ensuring that the knowledge shared is accurate, validated, and contextualized. In an era of information abundance and rising concerns over misinformation, including AI-generated content, the value lies not in volume but in the transformation of information into curated, attributed, reproducible, and trusted knowledge. This trust is foundational to innovation, investment, and Europe's global competitiveness. Copyright plays a critical role in this ecosystem. It provides the legal and economic framework to support the structuring, annotation, and enrichment of content for both human and machine use. It underpins provenance, attribution, and citation - core pillars of research integrity and essential safeguards in the AI era. We caution against framing copyright as a barrier to knowledge circulation. Instead, we advocate for a constructive view: copyright and open access can - and do - coexist and add more value to innovations such as AI, especially for businesses in critical sectors such as Legal, Finance, Healthcare and Scientific Research. Europe has long led the global transition to open access. Data from the STM OA Dashboard 2024, for instance, shows that European institutions and funders have pioneered new licensing models, notably Transformative Agreements, which enable broad access to research while respecting copyright. These arrangements demonstrate that openness and copyright are not antagonistic but mutually reinforcing. They provide clarity, sustainability, and legal certainty for researchers, institutions, and publishers alike. As a result, Europe now offers the most comprehensive and researcher-friendly OA publishing environment in the world. The ERA Act should build on this momentum rather than introduce complex and uncertain changes that risk burdening researchers and fragmenting the system. The path forward lies in deepening collaboration among stakeholders to expand access, uphold integrity, and ensure Europe remains a global leader in research and innovation. Wiley stands ready to collaborate with the European Commission and stakeholders to shape an open, competitive, and globally leading ERA.
Read full responseResponse to European Data Union Strategy
17 Jul 2025
Please find my feedback in the attached document.
Read full responseResponse to A European Strategy for AI in science – paving the way for a European AI research council
5 Jun 2025
Wiley welcomes the European Commissions initiative to develop a comprehensive strategy for AI in science. As one of the worlds largest publishers and a global leader in research and learning, Wiley is committed to advancing knowledge through trusted content, rigorous peer review, and innovative technologies. We recognize the transformative potential of AI to accelerate scientific discovery, improve reproducibility, and enhance research workflows. However, this potential must be realized within a framework that safeguards research integrity, respects intellectual property, and ensures transparency and accountability. With that, we offer the following key considerations: 1. AI must uphold the standards of scientific integrity: AI systems used in science must meet the same standards as traditional scholarly outputsaccuracy, transparency, provenance, and attribution. Outputs generated or supported by AI should be traceable to high-quality, peer-reviewed sources, ideally the Version of Record. The EU strategy should promote the use of curated, contextualized, and up-to-date content to ensure AI tools contribute to, rather than compromise, the integrity of the scientific record. 2. Copyright and licensing are enablers of trustworthy AI: The current copyright and IP frameworks are essential to incentivizing the creation and curation of high-quality content. These frameworks enable responsible licensing markets that support AI training on validated scholarly materials. The strategy should reinforcenot underminethese legal foundations, ensuring that AI systems respect rights, provide proper attribution, and operate transparently. Greater visibility into how AI models use licensed content is critical to maintaining trust and legal clarity. 3. Transparency and human oversight are non-negotiable: AI tools must be transparent in their design, training data, and outputs. Researchers, publishers, and institutions must be able to verify the sources and logic behind AI-generated content. Human oversight remains essential to uphold quality, detect manipulation, and ensure that AI complements rather than replaces expert judgment. The strategy should support mechanisms for traceability, correction, and retraction in AI-assisted research. 4. Opportunities and responsibilities of AI in publishing: Wiley and other publishers are actively integrating AI into editorial workflows, discovery tools, and content enrichment. These innovations can improve efficiency and accessibility, but must be deployed responsibly. The EU should support best practices for AI use in publishing, including ethical guidelines, transparency standards, and safeguards against misuseparticularly in sensitive fields like health sciences. 5. Combatting misinformation: AI can exacerbate the spread of misinformation, including through paper mills and fabricated research. The EU strategy must address these risks by supporting tools and frameworks that detect and prevent such issues. Publishing houses like Wiley invest heavily in research integrity. Collaborative initiatives like the STM Integrity Hub, which uses AI to flag integrity issues, demonstrate how technology can be part of the solutionwhen guided by human expertise and ethical standards. 6. Aligning with the AI Act and broader EU digital policy: The AI in Science strategy must complement the AI Act and other EU digital initiatives. It should reinforce the legal and ethical safeguards established under the AI Act, while providing tailored guidance for the scientific context. Alignment with the European Research Area, Open Science policies, and data governance frameworks will be essential for coherence and impact. To conclude, Wiley stands ready to support the EUs ambition to lead in responsible, human-centric AI for science. We believe that with the right safeguards, investments, and partnerships, AI can be a powerful force for scientific progress and societal benefit.
Read full responseResponse to Apply AI Strategy
4 Jun 2025
Wiley welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the European Commissions consultation on the Apply AI Strategy. Wiley is one of the worlds largest publishers and a global leader in research and learning. As stewards of knowledge and information for over two centuries, we see artificial intelligence as a transformative force capable of driving innovation, unlocking new opportunities, and accelerating progress across industries. When developed and applied responsibly, AI has the potential to enhance efficiency, empower creators, and deliver significant value to businesses and society. By fostering collaboration between stakeholders, we can ensure AI becomes a catalyst for the EU AI Continent Action Plan. We align with the principles outlined by our industry association, STM, and wish to emphasize the following key considerations: Preserve and Strengthen the AI Acts Safeguards: The Apply AI Strategy must reinforcenot dilutethe legal certainty and protections established by the AI Act. Effective regulation is essential to ensure that AI development aligns with ethical standards and fundamental rights. Simplification efforts should not come at the expense of safeguards that underpin trust and accountability in AI systems. Ensure Transparency across the AI Value chain: Transparency is foundational to responsible AI. For AI to be trusted and widely adopted, especially in research and education, downstream users must have access to clear, comprehensive information from upstream providers. This includes technical documentation, safety assurances, and transparency on data provenance and model behavior. Without this, the integrity of scientific and educational outputs may be compromised. Invest in infrastructure, skills and strategic partnerships: We support the strategys emphasis on investment in AI infrastructure and talent. However, we urge the Commission to go further by fostering active partnerships between data holders and users. The EUs data governance framework should be leveraged to promote responsible data sharing, particularly in sectors like research and education where data quality and context are critical. Address the environmental impact of AI: AIs growing resource demandsparticularly in terms of energy and watermust be addressed. The Apply AI Strategy should include concrete measures to mitigate the environmental footprint of AI technologies, especially in regions already facing resource constraints. Sustainable AI development must be a core pillar of the EUs leadership strategy. Promote Regulatory Interoperability for Cross-Border Collaboration: Regulatory approaches should consider interoperability to support cross-border scientific and digital collaboration. Given the global nature of digital and scientific endeavors, harmonized regulations will facilitate smoother cooperation and innovation across borders. Wiley is committed to supporting the EUs vision for trustworthy, human-centric AI. We view the Apply AI Strategy as a vital opportunity to scale innovation while upholding the ethical, legal, and operational foundations laid by the AI Act. We encourage the Commission to ensure that implementation efforts remain aligned with these principles, and we stand ready to contribute our expertise to this important endeavor.
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