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Science Europe says all researchers and societies should benefit from opening up research
Science Europe, the association of major research funders and performers, has said it intends to work to better align European policies to promote open science and facilitate research across disciplinary and geographical divides.
Open science is research whose processes and outputs are made openly available for scrutiny and reuse with the aim of facilitating their checking and further development. Science Europe’s pledge came in a direction paper on open science that the association published on 19 October, coinciding with the closing day of a conference it hosted on the same topic.
It said that “purposeful action” was needed to ensure that all research communities could adopt open-science practices and that all parts of society could benefit from open science. When seeking to align open-science policies, “due attention and respect will be paid to disciplinary, institutional and national diversity”, it said.
Science Europe said it would work with its members on the alignment efforts, adding: “The transition to open science is a joint effort and a shared responsibility between partners in policy and practice.”
It also said that it would work more on open science at a global level, with a focus on equity.