1 December 2021 CoNOSC meeting

1 December 2021 CoNOSC meeting

Eager to discuss developments in OS policies across Europe, the members of CoNOSC gathered for the third time on 1 Dec 2021. 

We were delighted to see that the network had grown since the last time we met. The meeting gathered a handsome group of 21 participants, with ten member countries presenting from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the UK and two additional presentations from Romania and Italy. We also had observers from the European Commission, including the head of the Open Science Unit. 

CoNOSC members gave updates on OS policy developments in their respective countries. The landscape that emerged from their presentations has shown both great diversity and parallels between countries. While some countries started introducing their national OS plans and policies as early as in 2005 (the UK), others are still to launch a national OS strategy. We heard of several cases where OS policies were under development and expected to be published soon. These countries are reaching out to a broad range of stakeholders, conducting consultations to inform the ultimate shape of their future policies (for example, Ukraine working on its National Plan for Open Science or Latvia currently waiting for approval of their National Open Science Strategy from the Cabinet of Ministers). 

Several countries also reported that their Open Science strategies have different scopes, with some OS policies constituting part of a broader national research policy while others are implementing specific policies for key elements of Open Science like Finland with its separate policies for Open Access to Scholarly Publications, Open Access to Research Data and Methods, Open Education and Educational Resources, and Open Scholarship, for example.

We identified a number of common themes in member updates. In several presentations we saw mentions of funding mechanisms that could support the implementation phase of the OS policies with some policymakers marrying concrete funds to help implement their policies like France and the Czech Republic. A number of policymaking voices drew attention to the importance of bibliodiversity and multilingualism, which were embedded in their policies. Several also spoke to the need for increased IT support for OS infrastructures and EOSC. Reforming copyright to support OS was also a priority for a few policymakers. Numerous presenters also expressed a general need for knowledge exchange and capacity-building in OS and OS policymaking.

However, the most common themes, which we heard in the majority of national updates, concentrated on the questions of research assessment and incentives, policy monitoring, and data stewardship. These also materialised in the meeting’s digital poll. Here, we asked participants which three priority areas they would like to collaborate on with other members. Two clear winners of the poll emerged: research assessment and incentives, and policy monitoring. The majority of CoNOSC members pointed out the fundamental role that research assessment systems play in the successful implementation of the OS roadmap and stressed the need for change in that area. Policy monitoring emerged as another priority, equally crucial for a systematic, long-term adoption of OS policies. Many participants also pointed out data stewards as another pivotal area since these are critical interfaces to the research community and thus to implementing OS policy. 

The following image shows the results of the poll taken on 1 Dec 2021:

We will work together with CoNOSC members in the coming months to share information and advance cooperation in the identified priority areas. Themes will also help design the agenda for future CoNOSC meetings. We look forward to continuing the discussion in our next meeting scheduled for 3 February 2020 in Paris and we will draw on the results of the poll to design the next meeting.

Besides common challenges and priority areas, what has emerged from the meeting was a strong will to collaborate which came across in many presentations. The meeting saw CoNOSC serving as a knowledge exchange platform and starting to facilitate an international dialogue between numerous national OS policymakers. 

Are you a national coordinator of Open Science in the EU-European region? Are you a CoNOSC Member? We are still looking for new members to join CoNOSC. If you are not yet a member, please reach out to us at contact@conosc.org. We’d like to hear from you.