From vision to action

This Call for Action is the main result of the Amsterdam conference on ‘Open Science– From Vision to Action’ hosted by the Netherlands’ EU presidency on 4 and5 April 2016. It is a living document reflecting the present state of open science evolution. Based on the input of all participating experts and stakeholders1as well as outcomes of preceding international meetings and reports, a multi-actor approach was formulated to reach two important pan-European goals for 2020:

1. Full open access for all scientific publications
This requires leadership and can be accelerated through new publishing models and compliance with standards set.

2. A fundamentally new approach towards optimal reuse of research data
Data sharing and stewardship is the default approach for all publicly funded research. This requires definitions, standards and infrastructures.

To reach these goals by 2020 we need flanking policy:

3. New assessment, reward and evaluation systems
New systems that really deal with the core of knowledge creation and account for the impact of scientific research on science and society at large, including the economy, and incentivise citizen science.

4. Alignment of policies and exchange of best practices
Practices, activities and policies should be aligned and best practices and information should be shared. It will increase clarity and comparability for all parties concerned and help to achieve joint and concerted actions. This should be accompanied by regular monitoring-based stocktaking.

Twelve action items with concrete actions to be taken

Twelve action items have been included in this Call for Action. They all contribute to the transition towards open science and have been grouped around five crosscutting themes that follow the structure of the European Open Science Agenda as proposed by the European Commission. This may help for a quick-start of the Open Science Policy Platform that will be established in May 2016. Each action item contains concrete actions that can be taken immediately by the Member States, the European Commission and the stakeholders.

Contents

Removing barriers to open science

1. Change assessment, evaluation and reward systems in science

2. Facilitate text and data mining of content

3. Improve insight into IPR and issues such as privacy

4. Create transparency on the costs and conditions of academic communication

Developing research infrastructures

5. Introduce FAIR and secure data principles

6. Set up common e-infrastructures

Fostering and creating incentives for open science

7. Adopt open access principles

8. Stimulate new publishing models for knowledge transfer

9. Stimulate evidence-based research on innovations in open science

Mainstreaming and further promoting open science policies

10. Develop, implement, monitor and refine open access plans

Stimulating and embedding open science in science and society

11. Involve researchers and new users in open science

12. Encourage stakeholders to share expertise and information on open science