Open Science in Practice: Implementing Open Science Activity in Research Organizations

LERU (League of European Research Universities) has produced a blueprint for how European Universities can embrace Open Science: Open Science and its role in universities: a roadmap for cultural change (https://www.leru.org/publications/open-science-and-its-role-in-universities-a-roadmap-for-cultural-change). One of the 8 pillars of Open Science identified by the Commission is the Future of Scholarly Publishing. The purpose of this paper is to examine three routes which university and research libraries can adopt to effect change in European publishing practices.

The second part of the paper will take the LERU Roadmap and 8 pillars of European Open Science and construct a model for the future of scholarly publishing which results, embracing areas such as Next Generation Metrics and Rewards. Using this model, the paper will then look at three possible routes to achieving a cultural change in publishing practice to move to full Open Access (OA): (1) full adoption of Plan S for future funded research outputs; (2) the use of existing OA platforms to deliver a sea change in publishing practice; (3) new publishing models such as institutional OA presses and publishing platforms supported by European/global research funders.

The paper will look at the benefits and challenges of each of these approaches, taking into account the issues of academic publishing culture, costs, sustainability, global activity in the scholarly communications space, research integrity and university/funder requirements.

The next part of the paper will look at the role of libraries in delivering each if the changes in publishing practice outlined above. The paper will argue that the role of libraries is crucial in effecting these changes and in supporting researchers in the move to Open Science activity. Open Science presents a real opportunity for libraries to re-define their role in research support. They can do this by taking leadership in the Open Science agenda at University/Research Institute level to offer new ways of delivering on Open Science/Open Access objectives.

The final part of the paper will look at international community-based activities which will help support libraries in their work. The first of these is OPERAS, which is a European research infrastructure for the development of open scholarly communication, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. The second is the development of an Open Science Community of Practice, led by UCL (University College London), which will form one of the ‘helixes’ communities of Vision2020. Vision2020 is an Open Innovation platform for research organisations & businesses seeking funding from the European Union’s €80 billion ‘Horizon 2020’ programme (https://network.crowdhelix.com/helixes/). Through this mechanism, research libraries will be able to share best practice, work together on projects of mutual benefit and seek the funding necessary to deliver cultural change and to take a leadership role in the Open Science/Open Access landscape.