In May 2016, the European Commission published a vision for Europe on the 3Os – Open Innovation, Open Science, Open to the World. In 2018, the EC published the latest update on Europe’s future on the 3Os. To shed some light on a topic that is gaining more and more importance in the research and innovation scene, our experienced trainer Gabriella prepared a series of blog posts that are fully focused on how these principles will affect your next Horizon Europe proposal or funded project.
Note: You can also watch a free 30-minute recorded webinar on Open Science simply by registering to our platform. Watch it here!
Did you know that, in the original proposal on Horizon Europe Pillars, the Excellent Science pillar was called Open Science? Open Science is part of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) approaches referring to how societal actors (researchers, citizens, policymakers, businesses, third sector organisations, etc.) work together during the whole R&I process to better align the process and its outcomes with the values, needs, and expectations of society. Within this joint work, open science is the approach based on cooperative work and systematic sharing of knowledge and tools as early and widely as possible. In basic science and mobility actions, these approaches work very well. But after a second consideration, the name of the first pillar was then changed to make sure all applicants understand that open science is a horizontal priority.
Some core concepts around open science include:
-
OPEN DATA: Open data is the process of sharing the original, raw, and treated or processed data online. This helps others redo your experiments, and re-use it for additional purposes, helping to verify and accelerate research discoveries.
-
OPEN ACCESS: This allows anyone to access and re-use research published in journal articles without payment or restriction.
-
OPEN PEER REVIEW: This is a concept that includes aspects dealing with publishing review reports, revealing the identity of reviewers, and making peer review a more continuous and collaborative process.
-
OPEN METHODS: Where the process of the research has been documented in sufficient detail to allow others to repeat, reproduce, or replicate the work.
-
OPEN SOURCE: Much modern research relies on code and software, and Open Source is about providing free access and re-use rights to maximise its utility.
Other aspects include public engagement, collaboration with stakeholders, and e.g., open educational resources or open advocacy. One of the pages we recommend visiting to learn more is www.fosteropenscience.eu
Open science in the proposal template
Open science received a new section in the proposal template, where mandatory and optional open science practices need to be discussed in around 1 page. This is evaluated under the Excellence section in 1.2 Methodology part and potentially under 3.2 part, where you may highlight specific expertise and capacity related to open science.
In the Grant Agreement, you can find the mandatory open science practices, such as open access to scientific publication, research data management, or open access to research data.
Make sure you check article 17 thoroughly in the Model Grant Agreement!
The mandatory practices are:
-
Open access to scientific publications
-
Management of research data in line with FAIR principles
-
Information about research outputs/tools/instruments needed to validate conclusions of scientific publications or to validate/re-use research data
-
Digital or physical access to the results needed to validate the conclusions of scientific publications
-
Public emergency: immediate open access to all research outputs under open licenses / access under fair and reasonable conditions to legal entities that need the output to address the emergency
The optional practices are:
-
Store or give access to research data on the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)
-
Early and open sharing of research (via preregistration, registered reports, preprints)
-
Involving all relevant knowledge actors including citizens, civil society, and end-users in co-creation, co-design, and co-assessment activities
-
Output management beyond research data
-
Participation in the open-peer review
The Programme Guide of Horizon Europe includes all explanations and a lot of useful links to trusted repositories, etc.
We recommend asking for help from your data protection officer or open science expert to write this section in the proposal (or monitor the practices promised during project implementation) analysing with all partners
-
the institutional open science policies and potential conflicts in between partners
-
ensure the balance between “as open as possible” and “as closed as necessary”
-
making sure scientists will follow the practices promised in the proposal
-
use EC tools to support open science (and dissemination and exploitation) – like Open Research Europe, European Open Science Cloud, Zenodo etc.
Remember: make sure you mention your infrastructure supporting open science practices under your organisational profile in Part A and use also open datasets, open publications as a reference.
Stay with us for the part on Open Innovation and Open to the World.
If you found this post interesting, make sure to register on our website to be able to watch the free session on Open Science available until 8 April.
