Open Science
Goals of the Open Science
The aim of Open Science is to transform science and research through digital tools and networks so that research is more open and global and access to data is better both for researchers, who regularly work with data, as well as for society at large.
It involves the way research is carried out and how its results are disseminated. It has been created hand in hand with the general transformation of the research environment and society in the direction towards greater openness and global cooperation.
- Open Science enables almost unlimited access to research outputs
- it helps to more effectively resolve a wide range of societal challenges
- enables and accelerates not only international cooperation in research, but also research itself
- promotes the credibility of science
Open Science in the European Union
Open Science is a policy priority for the European Commission. In 2016, it launched the "European Cloud Initiative – Building a competitive data and knowledge economy in Europe", which summarises the most important steps leading to the implementation of Open Science across research disciplines. The Commission is of the opinion that sharing data and knowledge in the research process as early as possible also helps accelerate dissemination of the latest findings. This process not only involves the researchers themselves, but also representatives of industry, public authorities and civil society. This should lead to the increased impact of the results of scientific activity on society, creation of innovations and bigger trust in science among citizens.
Horizon Europe and Open Science
It is an obligation of the researchers-recipients of the Horizon Europe funding to disseminate the results of their scientific work (data, publications) using available digital tools. Already since Horizon 2020, there has been a requirement for open access to all peer-reviewed articles presenting results from projects financed within this framework programme. Openness is also required in case of research data. Data acquired during the course of a project needs to be shared on the basis of the so-called FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable data), which the EU has adopted. The approach should follow the rule “as open as possible and as closed as necessary”.
The way recipients of funding from Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects handle data (as they collect, process, store and disseminate it) is part of the so-called Data Management Plan (DMP). The DMP was part of the Open Research Data Pilot in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe builds on this trial. This means that researchers are obliged to compose a DMP and adhere to the FAIR principles when preparing it.
Horizon Europe also places increased emphasis on strengthening the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and copyright in association with the large amounts of data that scientists work with and share. Similarly to Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe will also include the option of concluding license agreements and other contracts to protect the aforementioned rights.
European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)
The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is a significant tool for Open Science. It enables the storage, sharing, processing and re-use of a large amount of digital objects (like publications, data and software).
The Commission initiated the creation of the cloud already in 2015. The first impulse was an attempt to aggregate the entire available data infrastructure in Europe and to create an integrated cloud based on the FAIR principles.
The Commission invested more than 320 million EUR in the EOSC during the first phase until 2020, part of it via Horizon 2020. Since 2021, the EOSC has been operated as a jointly programmed European partnership under Horizon Europe, combining financial commitments at national level with EU funding. Its structure is tripartite: the EOSC is governed by the European Commission, the Steering Board, which brings together all Member States, and the EOSC Association, which brings together the scientific community.
More about the genesis of EOSC can be found in the overview on the EC website.
Open Research Europe
As part of its efforts to open access to European-funded publications, the European Commission launched in March 2021 the new publishing platform Open Research Europe which will present the results of research funded by Horizon Europe and its predecessor Horizon 2020.
Publishing on the platform is voluntary. It enables beneficiaries to publish their scientific results in immediate open access mode at no cost.
Further information about the platform can be found in the press release of the European Commission.
Open Science and the Library of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Through its Open Science website, the Library of the Czech Academy of Sciences (LCAS) offers specialized information covering the issues of Open Science, Open Access and Open/Fair Data from an informational and practical point of view.
It also offers consultations to institutes of the CAS in the matter of:
- meeting the Open Science requirements of individual financial support providers
- setting up internal data and publishing policies
- creation and management of data management plans
- selection of the most suitable repository for storing research data.
The LCAS also ensures the operation and development of
1) the institutional repository of the CAS – ASEP,
2) a repository for Open Access publications,
3) a repository for storing research data.
The website of the Association of Libraries of Higher Education Institutions of the Czech Republic https://openaccess.cz can serve as another source of information about Open Science in the Czech environment, but its Open Access Initiative working group has ceased its activities and the content of the website is current as of 31 January 2021.
last update 21 August 2023