Learn more about the concept of Open Science and the efforts made by the FCT's FCCN Unit to implement its principles.
A better science, with a greater capacity to address global challenges and in which society has greater trust. This is the goal envisioned by the concept of Open Science, a set of principles that aims, as the name suggests, to guarantee the openness of research results, facilitating access to them. “Open Science aims to transform Science through digital tools and networks, making research more open, global, collaborative, creative and closer to society”, highlights the European Commission on its website.
Given the importance of these objectives, Open Science principles have been seen as a priority in the design of European policies in the areas of Science and Knowledge. A clear example of this commitment can be found in new contract model for financing implemented by the European Commission in the program Horizon Europe, which establishes the basic conditions for guaranteeing European funding until 2027. The document gives substance to the political relevance of this topic, establishing the principles of Open Science as “the modus operandi” of this process.
More recently, the European Commission and the EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) Association announced a partnership to implement this common research data platform, which aims to aggregate searchable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable information. European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Marya Gabriel, said this solution will enable researchers “find, create, share and reuse forms of digital knowledge”, which will lead to “new insights and innovations”, as well as “increased productivity and reproducibility”.
More than just a European effort, initiatives to promote Open Science have been taking place worldwide. In 2019, UNESCO decided to develop an international standardization document on Open Science, which is expected to be approved by the 193 member states in November of this year. The preliminary report proposes a set of actions leading to a fair and equitable operationalization of Open Science.
In Portugal, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through its FCCN Unit, has been making efforts to promote and implement the principles of Open Science, being the organization mandated to represent Portugal's interests within the EOSC association. Learn about some of the initiatives developed by the FCCN Unit in this area.
5 Open Science initiatives from the FCCN unit
#1 Digital Transformation in Research
THE FCCN Unit has been developing, since the beginning of 2020, a work in the area of Digital Transformation in Research, with a view to strengthening investment in the area of open science at the national level, particularly in research data management. The project, which includes funding from COMPETE (European Social Fund), is scheduled for completion in December 2022 and is seen as a reinforcement “in the investment that the FCT has been making in recent years in science management”.
To learn more see the project page.
#2 PTCRIS
Activities developed within the scope of Open Science have also resulted in initiatives such as PTCRIS, a structuring program that facilitates the management, production, and access to information on national scientific activity. Based on this core concept, PTCRIS is creating an “open ecosystem” which involves agents from the world of scientific research, business, education or media and which, in line with the principles of Open Science, based on “easy access to authoritative, complete and reliable information”.
To learn more about the PTCRIS, see the service website.
#3 SCIENCE ID
The same logic of transparency and accessibility is at the basis of the creation of CIÊNCIA ID, a form of individual and permanent identification for citizens who carry out scientific activities, reducing bureaucracy, reusing information and facilitating access to information dispersed across multiple platforms. Through this service, researchers now have a single account that allows authentication across several other services that also seek to implement good Open Science practices.
To learn more about the CIÊNCIA ID, see the service website.
#4 SCIENCEVITAE
One of the services included in CIÊNCIA ID is CIÊNCIAVITAE, the national science curriculum management system. Through this resource, it was possible to immediately modernize administrative processes supported by shared curriculum vitae. Since it works as an integrated repository, This service managed by the FCCN Unit has a direct impact on the materialization of Open Science principles, bringing citizens closer to scientific research. To date, approximately 65,000 researchers have registered on the platform, having already published over a million articles.
To learn more about the CIÊNCIAVITAE, check the service website.
#5 RCAAP
The connection between RCAAP – Open Access Scientific Repositories and the principles of Open Science is clear in the very name of this portal. Its objective is to collect, aggregate, and index scientific content from the institutional repositories of higher education institutions or other research and development organizations. This information is then made available on this portal, managed by the FCCN Unit, which thus assumes the role of a single point for research, discovery, location and access to thousands of scientific and academic documents.
To learn more about the RCAAP see service page.
