Open Science is based on the principle of openness and transparency in the whole research cycle, fostering sharing and collaboration as early as possible. Open and transparent practices accelerate the research process at an unprecedented speed and they reinforce core academic values, such as research integrity, cooperation and knowledge sharing. Open Science is also key to increasing public trust in science and as a means to spark interest and foster the public’s participation in research activities.
EUA has been actively supporting universities in the transition to Open Science for more than a decade and has an Expert Group on Science 2.0/Open Science that closely follows developments in this area. The Association takes a comprehensive view of the transition to Open Science by gathering information on the current situation in Europe and building a forward-looking dialogue between universities and other main stakeholders.
The Association’s four key priorities include:
- promoting Open Access policies for research publications and data;
- achieving more transparency and greater sustainability in the scholarly publishing system;
- contributing to the development and implementation of research data management, data sharing and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC);
- and raising awareness and supporting universities in reviewing their approach to academic career assessment.
EUA consults regularly with its member universities to identify emerging trends and developments in the transition to Open Science. Recently these have included citizen science and open education.
The transition to Open Science entails encompassing systemic, cultural and technical reforms. EUA is fully committed to Open Science as a shared responsibility, recognising that a successful transition will require a concerted effort from key stakeholders. The Association’s focus on Open Science is also seen in its extensive efforts in providing input to the EU’s research and innovation programmes.
Finally, EUA is committed to a global approach as the way forward for a sustainable transition to Open Science. The Association has joined the UNESCO Global Open Science Partnership, with the purpose of working towards a global consensus on the transition to Open Science.
The publication of research outcomes in digital formats provides researchers and other stakeholders in research and innovation with enhanced opportunities to increase the visibility of, and widen access to, research articles, research data and other research outputs. Open Access is critical in the transition to an open and transparent research system. In the last few years, Open Access has gained momentum through both bottom-up activities from the academic community, as well as top-down initiatives from research funders, governments and the European Commission.
EUA has become a leading voice in the debate on Open Access and has been actively engaged in this area since 2007. EUA advocates for full and immediate Open Access and supports universities and authors in retaining their rights and being able to openly share their research outputs without restrictions. Besides the benefits coming from open access to publications, sharing of data, software and code also improve research reproducibility, replicability and the re-use of research outcomes.
EUA has monitored the implementation of Open Access policies in European universities since 2014. Since then, more than 500 universities have contributed with their experience, showing the rapid adoption of Open Access policies at the institutional level. However, much is still to be accomplished and EUA will continue to support European universities in improving researchers’ engagement in Open Access and in highlighting the importance of implementing monitoring mechanisms of Open Access.
EUA monitors and is actively engaged with national and European developments impacting the transition towards Open Access. The Association advocates for ambitious Open Access policies, for instance through Horizon Europe, the FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable), the creation of the EOSC, as well as Plan S. The Association continues to monitor policy and legal developments in Open Access relevant to the university sector, with a view to foster openness in research, education and innovation.
Large contract negotiations between universities and scientific publishers have received greater attention from the academic community, governments and from the general public, as the movement towards Open Science and Open Access accelerates. The substantial amount of public funds involved in these contracts, and the need for greater transparency and equity in the scholarly publishing system, have led universities, research funders and governments to push for more transparent and fair-priced contracts. In addition, universities are also turning their attention to other publishing venues, such as non-commercial publishing platforms, in an effort to expand bibliodiversity and to create a more diversified and fairer scholarly publishing system.
EUA works to achieve more transparency and greater sustainability in the scholarly publishing system together with its members. The Association monitors the evolution of negotiation mechanisms between universities and publishers and how these affect the content and financial conditions given to academic institutions.
Since 2017, EUA has assembled comprehensive data on Big Deals between scholarly publishers and national consortia of libraries, universities and research organisations. The EUA Big Deals Survey contributes to increasing the transparency of contract costs and conditions, identifying the main challenges in the scholarly publication system and supporting a variety of institutions in becoming more knowledgeable and actively engaged in negotiations with scientific publishers.
EUA has also started looking into new types of contracts between publishers and consortia, namely through the Read & Publish study. EUA will continue to explore new, diverse and community-driven scholarly publishing models.
As the nature of research is increasingly data intensive, widespread data sharing and re-use are critical to develop a more open and interconnected research system. This should be underpinned by the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data principles and supported through the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).
EUA has long advocated for the importance of sharing and re-using research data. Universities and researchers across Europe are increasingly expected to manage research data according to the FAIR principles, most notably through Horizon Europe. Universities are also actively developing the necessary services, policies, governance frameworks and skills for professional research data management.
EUA is a core partner of the FAIRsFAIR project, funded through Horizon 2020, which develops recommendations and guidance documents on how to build and sustain FAIR research data management policies and services within research performing organisations.
EUA is also actively engaged in the EOSC, a European Partnership aiming to federate services for sharing, storage, management, analysis and re-use of research outputs. EUA co-chaired the EOSC Working Group on Skills & Training. The resulting report paves the way for a comprehensive skills and education strategy to support the actors of a strong EOSC research data ecosystem. EUA is also an observer of the EOSC Association.
The European higher education, research and innovation landscape is changing. A broad range of academic activities are gaining more prominence, including Open Access, digital learning and teaching, and new forms of knowledge exchange with society. Universities are rethinking how to incentivise and reward these and other activities as part of their approach to career assessment. Reviewing academic career assessment practices to make them more accurate, transparent and responsible is an essential element of the transition to Open Science.
EUA raises awareness and supports universities to incentivise and reward a broad range of academic activities using responsible evaluation practices. EUA is a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and has expressed its support for similar principles and guidelines created by the research community.
The Association advocates for more accurate, transparent and responsible assessment practices. EUA builds and sustains a dialogue between universities and with other actors, by organising workshops, webinars and other opportunities for exchange. It works together with universities, other research performing organisations, research funding organisations, learned societies and policy makers, as the Association believes that improving academic career assessment is a shared responsibility and requires a comprehensive approach uniting diverse stakeholders.
The EUA Open Science Agenda 2025 defines the Association’s priorities in this field and describes the current context, challenges and developments envisaged for the coming years. In addition, it outlines the actions EUA will take to drive this agenda forward.
EUA Strategic Plan
The need for strong universities has never been greater in addressing societal challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, resource scarcity, ageing populations, migration and managing artificial intelligence are among the many examples of areas where universities have a major impact.
UNESCO has recently launched two calls in the area of open science. Firstly, a global call is underway for papers on shaping the future of global scientific practices in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, focused on ‘Open Science Policies as an Accelerator for Achieving the Sustainable Development...
view moreEUA and other associations representing European universities, research performing organisations, research funding organisations, research libraries, and repositories in Europe have released a joint statement in the context of ongoing trilogue negotiations on the Digital Services Act...
view moreThis report presents the detailed results from the EUA 2020-2021 Open Science Survey with a focus...
read moreEUA, together with Science Europe, Dr. Karen Stroobants (in her individual capacity as researcher with expertise in research on research) and the European Commission, is leading the drafting of an agreement on how to reform research assessment across Europe. The exercise is part of a broader...
view moreEUA has signed up to the “Action Plan for Diamond Open Access” which aims to promote a sustainable, community-driven Diamond Open Access (OA) scholarly communication ecosystem. Published on 2 March 2022, the document is an initiative of Science Europe, cOAlition S, OPERAS and the French National...
view moreThis report specifically presents the findings on Open Access from EUA’s 2020-2021 Open Science...
read moreIn December 2021, partners of FAIRsFAIR’s WP7 on “Data Science and Professionalisation” published the two final deliverables of the WP: the adoption handbook “How to be FAIR with your data: a teaching and training handbook for higher education institutions” and the report “Good Practices in FAIR...
view moreThis report presents a collection of seven case studies describing how FAIR competences are being...
read moreThis report analyses the place of Open Science in the academic assessment approaches of...
read moreThe FAIRsFAIR project will hold its Final Event on 25, 26 and 27 January 2022, consisting of a series of internal and public meetings to consolidate the project final results before its official end in February 2022. As part of its Final Event, FAIRsFAIR will organise a public session on 26...
view moreEUA welcomes the approval of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science and recognises its importance in providing a shared set of standards and actions for the further implementation of Open Science policies and practices at international, national and institutional levels. In 2020, EUA provided...
view moreSPARC Europe is organising the Equity and diversity in Open Access. National and regional OA publishing platforms webinar, on the 2nd of December 2021, starting at 3 PM CET. The aim of the webinar is to raise awareness of some of the community-governed, publicly-funded not-for-profit...
view moreThe EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) 2022 will take place in Leiden (The Netherlands), between 13-16 of July. ESOF aims to provide a venue for debate among all stakeholders about science itself, the way science is performed and the impact of science in, with and for society. Organised once every...
view moreThis checklist is a guide for universities that wish to further develop their Open Access...
read moreSPARC Europe announced that they are going to support the Council for National Open Science Coordination (CoNOSC) in their activities advancing national European Open Science policies. Open to all countries within the European Research Area, CoNOSC is helping them create, update and coordinate...
view moreAs part of the FAIRsFAIr project and in the framework of the Open Science Fair 2021 , EUA will organise the workshop "Learning lessons from FAIR data implementation. Good practices from universities across Europe", on Monday 20 September, at 16.30 CEST. Diverse initiatives are being developed...
view moreThe European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) will open four of its European facilities for nuclear reaction and decay data measurements in Geel, Belgium. Such measurements help to make nuclear reactors and the handling of nuclear waste safer and enhance radiological protection for...
view moreOPERAS, the research infrastructure supporting open scholarly communication in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in the European Research Area, is working to develop a full catalogue of services via its platform GOTRIPLE to efficiently address the scholarly communication needs of...
view moreThis report presents the findings of the 2020-2021 EUA Open Science Survey and provides...
read moreThe European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC) “triangle task force” has recently published the guideline paper “Research evaluation in a context of Open Science and gender equality”. The ERAC “triangle task force” combines combines forces of the ERAC group on open science, gender and...
view moreOn 14 June, DORA released “SPACE to evolve academic assessment: A rubric for analysing institutional conditions and progress indicators”. It is designed to support institutions, at any stage of academic assessment reform, to gauge their ability to support interventions and set them up for...
view moreThe OECD.AI Network of Experts developed a draft OECD Framework for Classifying AI Systems as a tool for policy-makers, regulators, legislators and others so that they can assess the opportunities and risks that different types of AI systems present and to inform their national AI...
view moreThe FAIRsFAIR project, in partnership with the CODATA-RDA schools, is organising a Data Steward training series to help Data Stewards provide the best support and guidance to researchers, equipping them with the foundational skills of Research Data Science and a solid grounding in responsible...
view moreEUA joined CESAER and Science Europe to call on all publishers to fully respect researchers’ rights and to end the use of restrictions and embargoes. In a joint statement published on 25 May, the three partners representing more than 880 universities and research-performing and research-funding...
view moreSPARC Europe and the European Network of Open Education Librarians launched the survey “Open education in European libraries of higher education”. The survey deadline is 4 June. The survey is seeking to gain insights into Open Education (OE) practices within academic libraries of...
view moreEducation’s digital transition has allowed students to study and researchers to work remotely...
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read moreEU policy makers often fail to consider the specific nature of higher education, research and...
read moreOn the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the European University Association, Andrée Sursock...
read moreUNESCO’s Global Open Science Partnership is well-timed in promoting a much-needed global dialogue...
read moreThe Covid-19 crisis led to major push towards Open Access, which is now well on its way to...
read moreEUA President Michael Murphy assesses the challenges and opportunities brought by the coronavirus...
read moreThe Swedish Bibsam Consortium is taking a leading role in the transition to Open Access and aims...
read moreWhile Europe discusses its data strategy, the digital transformation must be on the radar of...
read moreOpen Access publishing needs new business models for universities and disciplines that want to...
read moreScholarly publishing is at a crossroads between commercial vendors and community-driven services....
read moreThe Open University of Catalonia is a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research...
read moreThe transition to Open Science and Open Access is gaining momentum in Europe, making it a shared...
read moreSince the beginning of time scientific research has been based on exchanges between peers:...
read moreThe European University Association (EUA) and its Expert Group on ‘Science 2.0/Open Science’ are...
read moreAs part of the FAIRsFAIR project, EUA and the University of Göttingen are organising a workshop on the “Practical implementation of FAIR-related content in...
Read more15 September 2021 - 10.00 to 11.00 CEST In the context of the FAIRsFAIR project, EUA and the University of Amsterdam organised a workshop on “Training the...
Read moreThis webinar offered participants the opportunity to discuss the results and recommendations of the 2020-2021 EUA Open Science Survey Report. Focusing on the...
Read moreThis final webinar of the series "Universities and the future of scholarly publishing" addressed imminent and practical questions about universities and the...
Read more8 June 2021 – 14.00 to 15.30 CEST This third webinar of the series "Universities and the future of scholarly publishing" looked into the ins and outs of the...
Read moreTuesday, 8 December, 14.00-15.00 CET As a main partner in the FAIRsFAIR project, EUA organised this webinar to share and discuss the FAIRsFAIR policy and...
Read moreFriday, 4 September 2020, 10:00-11:30 CEST EUA organised a webinar on 4 September to present the progress of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and to...
Read moreEUA worked together with the Portuguese National Conference of Rectors (CRUP) and Conference of the Rectors of the Spanish Universities (CRUE) in the delivery...
Read moreFollowing measures adopted across Europe to minimise health risks associated with the current coronavirus outbreak, EUA and OpenAIRE have decided with much...
Read moreEUA is organising a series of workshops raising awareness and fostering discussion on research assessment reform. The 2019 edition will focus on research...
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