Open-science services fear being ‘stuck’ without more support

Leaders warn services could shrink, charge fees or shut down without long-term funding

Open-science infrastructure services face the prospect of long-term decline unless more sustainable funding is provided for them, leaders in the field have warned.

“If we don’t look after them, I think there are risks that those services will stagnate. They won’t develop along with our needs. They may need to downsize, or even go behind paywalls,” Vanessa Proudman, director of the open science advocacy group Sparc Europe, said at a 26 February conference hosted by the Liber Association of European Research Libraries.