OPERAS Common Standards White Paper

The OPERAS Working Group for Common Standards aims at exploring the workflows, mediums and
technical standards that have recently emerged as a result of the changes brought about by the
transition to Open Science. It places focus on the importance of common standards, and traces the
improvements required to ensure content quality and interconnectivity for scholarly output in the SSH
and beyond.

The White Paper on Common Standards comprises desk research and identifies key operational
and technical aspects to be addressed by digital research infrastructures and service providers. It
particularly sketches the landscape of Open Science in Europe, focusing on the policy framework and
the institutional initiatives at EU level; it also describes current and emerging research practices and
highlights the needs of the stakeholders and communities engaged in scholarly communication.

Reference is specifically made to technical and operational standards for publishing infrastructures,
and their importance in providing a digital scholarly communication framework that fosters content
reuse and collaboration among researchers, while enabling the implementation of innovative research
methods. To this end, the white paper identifies needs yet to be met, introduces 4 complementary
areas (content quality and impact assessment, interoperability, availability and processability)
for the introduction of common standards, and provides basic recommendations for their future
implementation.

The white paper also examines where OPERAS members stand and suggests a roadmap for the
community-wide adoption of standards.. As effective implementation of common standards is highly
depended upon stakeholders’ increased awareness and commitment towards more effective ways of
conducting, presenting and communicating research, the white paper underlines the instrumental role
of the OPERAS network in specifying new standards and updating existing ones.