Open Science

Open Science is a mode of conducting research and communicating its results, which rests on the principles of open access, transparency, reproducibility and verifiability. These principles are of key importance for the development of science in accordance with the most stringent standards of research integrity. Open science is also the foundation of social accountability, as it ensures broad access to the latest, verified knowledge.

The principles of open science have been implemented by many research-funding agencies around the world, including the European Commission. They are also advocated by international organisations that shape research policy, such as Science Europe and UNESCO.

Open Science applies to many aspects of research processes and research artifacts, including access to publications, data, protocols, software or source codes. The NCN has implemented open access solutions with respect to research data and publications, while its proposal and report assessment procedures are informed by the principles of DORA – the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment.

Letter by the Director of the National Science Centre concerning open access and data management

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Open access to publications

On 31 May 2020, the NCN adopted its Open Access Policy. The policy applies to all agreements signed from 1 January 2021 onward for projects selected in calls launched on or after 15 June 2020. The policy is consistent with Plan S, signed by the NCN in 2018.

Journal Checker Tool

Below you will find the widget of the “Journal Checker Tool”, which allows you to check whether the journal in which you want to publish your paper meets the criteria of NCN’s Open Access Policy and, if so, under which publication route (out of the three available options described in NCN’s Open Access Policy).

Tips on how to interpret search results can be found on page 10 of the Instructions – NCN’s Open Access Policy document. When you introduce your data into the tool, you must click on the search result shown (even if there’s only one) to validate the correctness of the data.

Additional documents and information:

Open access to research data

In 2019, the NCN included a Data Management Plan (DMP) in its application forms, which is based on the guidelines of Science Europe. At the same time, NCN published a set of instructions on how to fill out the DMP. The plan is assessed by experts at the proposal review stage.

The DMP may change during the implementation of the project. The NCN does not need to be notified of all the changes as they happen. The relevant information, however, should be included, along with a justification, in the end of project report, which will undergo expert assessment.

More information on the DMP can be found under the links below.

Additional documents and information:

DORA

In 2018, the NCN signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). The signatories of the Declaration believe that research quality should be evaluated with merit-based criteria rather than quantitative measures. Researchers should be judged on the basis of the originality of their research and its impact on the development of the discipline, rather than bibliometric indicators, such as the Impact Factor. Merit-based criteria should be employed both in funding allocation and academic promotion decisions.

Links:

Full text: San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment

Collaboration

Science Europe

The NCN played an active role in Science Europe working groups responsible for drawing up specific guidelines on open access to research data and publications. Their work resulted in the ‘Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management’, The principles were included in the Data Management Plan, which was first introduced in the 33rd round of NCN calls launched on 15 March 2019.

Links:

Science Europe and Open Access

cOAlition S

In September 2018, alongside ten other European research-funding agencies, the NCN founded cOAlition S, an organisation that aims to ensure full, immediate and free access (i.e. open access) to publications that contain the results of research funded from their resources. The main principles of cOAlition S are laid out in Plan S.

Links:

European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)

The purpose of EOSC is to create the European Open Science Cloud, an open, federated, trust-based ecosystem of infrastructure, services, research artifacts and standards that will enable European researchers to share research artifacts and use a wide range of resources, including data and other research objects (e.g. software) in accordance with FAIR principles.

The EOSC is a broad initiative supported by the European Commission, governments of EU member states and associated countries, as well as European research institutions, service providers and research-funding agencies.

It is implemented within the framework of the EOSC Partnership between the European Commission and the EOSC Association.

Within the framework of the initiative, the NCN:

represents Poland on the EOSC Steering Board, an advisory group to the European Commission, and creates convergent actions for open science at the national level;
serves as a mandated organisation within the EOSC Association;
participates in two EOSC Association working groups: TF Researcher Engagement and TF Research Career, Credit and Recognition.

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