Supporting Researchers on Open Science from Building a Research Project to its End

As emphasized by the recently published Plan S, more and more funders have implemented open science policies to require that funded projects disseminate openly their publications, write a data management plan and open their research data when possible. However, since many funders do not ask a detailed presentation of an open science strategy at the submission stage of research projects, most of the researchers do not seriously consider these matters when building their project. Once the project is accepted, it may be difficult to comply with open science policies if no appropriate resources are dedicated to data preservation and dissemination or if ethics and legal matters have not been anticipated enough to balance data protection and dissemination. Open science requirements then appear to be only some administrative obligations.

Our University Library implemented a new service to support researchers when building their projects to take into account all dimensions of open science. We help researchers to transform their open science obligations in terms of objectives, deliverables and budget in their proposal. We also draft a dissemination strategy fitted for each project supported. We make sure open science objectives and resources are well balanced. This support has shown to be appreciated by project reviewers.

When a project is funded, the Library helps researchers to put their commitments and strategy into practice. A librarian is designated as the project open science manager. He/she provides the project coordinator with guidelines and informs and trains the project stakeholders on open access and data management at the kick-off meeting and other working meetings. The project open science manager also monitors open access dissemination of research results. For mid-term and final reporting, the librarian produces a report on publications which includes information on open access dissemination, impact… Help is provided to write the data management plan and specific guidance is proposed so that researchers are able to make relevant choices to manage their research data.

Supporting researchers in a project-oriented perspective at the submission stage has proved to be an efficient way for librarians to be considered as a partner by project coordinators. It enables the Library to work with very dynamic researchers who have a driving force to reach more widely research communities about open science. Based on concrete and interdisciplinary examples, our presentation will describe which specific services can be offered to research project coordinators. We will highlight the positive impact of these services on the recognition of the Library’s role on supporting research. We will introduce how we implemented this approach in collaboration with other University services such as the research coordination office or the data protection officer. A specific focus will be made on new skills needed by librarians to develop such services.

Our Library mainly works with European H2020 projects and with projects funded by the French National Agency for Research (ANR) but this presentation should be of interest for participants regardless of their national context since open science requirements are more and more widely spread.