History
This movement has reached a number of milestones since the 1990s..
1991
In 1991, Paul Ginsparg, a physicist at Los Alamos, set up the first open archive. This archive would become known as arXiv.org.
1999
The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) was launched to promote interoperability between open archive platforms. The aim is to make archives easier to find, regardless of their location.
2001
Creation of Creative Commons, a non-profit organisation. Its aim is to facilitate the sharing of contents. By placing your content under a Creative Commons licence, you allow the public to share and/or use your publications. You can assign your rights in whole or in part.
The launch of the HAL platform, developed by the Center for Direct Scientific Communication (CCSD) for the CNRS. It hosts scientific articles from French institutions. Data is freely accessible, but its use is sometimes restricted. Agreements have since been signed with Arxiv and most other open archives.
Declarations and Statements
Budapest Initiative for Open Access (2002)
In order to disseminate their research free of charge and without restriction, the signers recommend two complementary strategies: self-archiving, whereby each researcher deposits their publications in an open archive, and using alternative open-access journals..
Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003)
Building on the Budapest Initiative, the signers are calling for all scientific literature, data and software used to generate this knowledge to be made freely available worldwide.
Amsterdam Call: Action Plan for Open Science (2016)
At the ‘Open Science: From Vision to Action’ conference, held on 4 and 5 April 2016, two objectives were presented at the European level for 2020: full open access to all scientific publications and a new approach to the reuse of research data.
Participants produced a report detailing methods of action, including new research evaluation systems, the standardisation of open access practices through regular checks, and new publication models.
International Context
Declaration on Research Assessment (2013)
The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) promotes research assessment based on qualitative rather than quantitative criteria, such as impact factor and H-index.
Several thousand individuals (researchers, publishers, funders, etc.) and numerous institutions, including UGA, have signed this declaration.
The TARA (Tools to Advance Research Assessment) project is being developed around DORA, with the aim of facilitating the development of new assessment policies via tools and resources (TARA).
UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science (2021)
Following extensive consultations, UNESCO unanimously adopted a recommendation on open science in November 2021. This recommendation provides a shared definition of open science and an international framework for implementation and the development of good practices, taking into account disciplinary and regional differences. Resources are provided to enable the adoption of open science.
European Context
Horizon Europe
The new programme, Horizon Europe (2021–2027), which is succeeding Horizon 2020, anticipates that ‘open science’ will become the modus operandi of Horizon Europe. This means open access to publications and data.
Several areas of work have been defined, including open data, reproducibility of research, evaluation and training.
European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)
The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) portal was launched on 23 November 2018 as one of the eight ambitions of Horizon Europe. It provides access to services, data and other resources made available by national, regional or institutional public research infrastructures in Europe.
Open Research Europe (ORE)
Open Research Europe is an open-access publication platform for research funded by Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programmes. It provides researchers with means of rapidly disseminating pre-publications that are compatible with European requirements. Through an open peer-review process, it also facilitates exchanges and discussions between scientists.
Coalition S and Plan S
The Coalition S, a consortium supported by the European Research Council and bringing together 19 funders including the French National Research Agency (ANR), has published 10 principles designed to promote the open access publishing of scientific research funded by public grants.
Plan S describes how these principles are to be implemented.
It states that, after January 1st, 2021, scientific publications on the results of research financed by national or European research agencies or funders must be published in open-access journals or on open-access platforms. This principle also applies to books.
The plan recommends that researchers give preference to native open-access journals and encourages the development of this publishing model. A widget allows users to verify whether journals comply with Plan S.
In addition to publications, the Coalition aims to make research data, codes and software openly accessible.
Researchers must retain copyright of their publications and are encouraged to publish them under open licences.
For this purpose, Coalition S has developed a ‘rights retention strategy‘ to enable researchers to make their articles available via immediate open access, regardless of the journal’s distribution model.
To support researchers in this process, the S Coalition has produced many resources.
In addition, the Open Science Committee has published a practical guide. ‘Implementing the Rights Retention Strategy for Scientific Publications‘. This includes a FAQ section.
Paris Call for Research Evaluation (2022)
The Paris Call for Research Evaluation was presented at the Open Science European Conference (OSEC 2022), which took place in Paris on 4 and 5 February 2022 as part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The appeal promotes evaluation based on qualitative criteria that take into account the diversity of activities and outputs, the societal impact of research and the value of good practice, particularly with regard to ethics and integrity, collaborative work, transdisciplinarity and participatory science. The appeal recommends the creation of a coalition to implement these principles.
Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (COARA)
Building on the Paris Appeal, the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (COARA) was established at a European level. Based on an agreement including 10 commitments, COARA defines a common direction for changes in research assessment practices. These commitments include basing research assessment primarily on qualitative assessment (for which peer review is central), recognising the diversity of contributions and careers, abandoning the exclusive use of indicators based on the impact factor and h-index, raising awareness of assessment reform, and sharing good practice and experience. There are over 500 signers, including UGA, representing universities, research organisations and funding agencies.