Published

OpenUP policy recommendations No 4

OpenUP synthesised and validated key project results and derived 5 recommendations to foster the take-up of novel practices in scholarly peer review, research dissemination & assessment. Discover the rational behind the Recommendation #3

OpenUP policy recommendations No 4
Rationale

OpenUP findings confirm that although the new practices and initiatives are emerging and are being tested, several obstacles hinder wide adoption of alternative review-disseminate-assess methods [1]. Researchers still feel tied up to the prevailing system of the traditional peer review, dissemination and evaluation practices. The new concepts and practices are not well-established, and some researchers and other stakeholders are not aware of the new developments and what specific options they entail. The adaptation of novel methods also requires time and financial resources [2]. This might compromise the time and other resources researchers want to devote to conduct their scientific investigations. In addition, researchers seem to lack knowledge and most importantly skills and incentives to engage in novel practices.

At EU and national policy levels, the developments in OPR, innovative dissemination and alternative metrics practices are being monitored to assess their possible uptake. Several expert groups and working groups have been established by the European Commission to produce recommendations for several areas of Open Science [3]. Our country analysis showed that there are bottom-up initiatives in OPR, innovative dissemination and altmetrics areas coming from researchers, publishers, funding organisations, libraries, service providers and research organisations or learned societies [4]. They mostly entail projects that aim to study and test the novel approaches.

The recently announced Plan S [5] provides further opportunities for advancement of novel research practices and Open Science. Increased attention to OA publishing could generate a momentum and more avenues to take up open peer review, innovative research dissemination and alternative impact metrics. However, policymakers and funders should exploit the synergies between Plan S and OpenUP recommendations particularly in the area of raising awareness and supporting Open Science practices beyond Open Access publishing (i.e. open peer review, open research data, innovative dissemination, and alternative metrics).

Recommendation #4 - Specific Actions - Relevant Stakeholders

Recommendation 

Specific actions

Responsible stakeholders

Exploit ongoing policy developments at EU and national levels and integrate OPR, innovative dissemination and alternatives metrics practices

  • Support institutions in implementing and complying to new policies by providing practical guidelines and criteria (e.g. online compliance or recommendation checklists)

  • Provide incentives, financial support and training for the development of open data infrastructure.

  • Align policies with community based practical tools which enable institutions monitor and evaluate their output in a way that the data are owned by the communities themselves.

  • To ensure reproducibility and re-usability of evaluation metrics, align and support open sources of altmetrics information.

EU and national policy makers

Research funders

Institutional decision makers

Libraries

Community based initiatives

Altmetric providers


More Information

OpenUP synthesised and validated key project results and derived five recommendations to foster the take-up of novel practices in scholarly peer review, research dissemination and assessment while considering existing gaps in evidence and disciplinary differences. To find out more about the OpenUP policy recommendations, follow the link

 

References

[1] Banelyte, V. et al. (2017). Deliverable D7.2 – Completed Policy review and mapping and field research activities. OpenUP project.

[2] Banelyte, V. et al. (2018). http://openup-h2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/OpenUP_D7.3_-policy-report.pdf. OpenUP project.

[3] A comprehensive list is included in: OSPP (2018). Integrated advice of the Open Science Policy Platform, p. 16

[4] Kraker, P., Bachleitner, R., et al. (2017). Deliverable D4.1 – Practices evaluation and mapping: Methods, tools and user needs. OpenUP project

[5] https://www.scienceeurope.org/making-open-access-a-reality-by-2020/ 

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