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Romania

Open Access to Research (RO0062)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Romania Action Plan 2018-2020

Action Plan Cycle: 2018

Status: Active

Institutions

Lead Institution: Ministry of Research and Innovation (MCI)

Support Institution(s): Ministry of National Education, Centre for Public Innovation Kosson.ro

Policy Areas

Access to Information, E-Government, Open Data

IRM Review

IRM Report: Pending IRM Review

Starred: Pending IRM Review

Early Results: Pending IRM Review

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information , Technology

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion: Pending IRM Review

Description

Open access to research results
2018-2020 Lead implementing agency/actor Ministry of Research and Innovation (MCI) Other actors involved State actors Ministry of National Education CSOs, private sector, multilaterals, working groups Centre for Public Innovation Kosson.ro What is the public problem that the commitment will address? The European Commission has introduced compliance with the principles of Open Access in the main funding programs for education and research (FP7, Erasmus +, Horizon 2020, European Research Forum). In April 2012, the Romanian Academy signed a Statement of Open Science support as a member of ALLEA - All European Academies which, together with the other signatories, called for "the implementation of Open Science principles for publications, research data, software, educational resources and infrastructures research". Commitment description What is the commitment? The commitment aims to lead to the adoption of a national Open Access strategy for research results, by implementing pilot programs and substantiating research and public consultations. How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? (1) Identify and support a pilot public institution (ministry, agency, university, research institute) which will adopt a policy of publishing, communicating and valorisation on all scientific results financed by public funds with Open Access. (2) Identifying a domain with lower potential for commercial re-use controversy; the development of rules on the publication of open research results under an open license; implementation of these rules for acquisitions of central public institutions or projects funded by them. Create a repository for the data resulted from these projects. 35 Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? Publishing studies and research results funded from public funds, as well as the establishment of a framework enabling the adoption at national level of policies in line with Commission Recommendation C (2012) 4890, which requires each Member State to develop its own Open Access policies. Milestone activity with a verifiable deliverable Responsible agency / partner Start Date: End Date: Identify a pilot institution and develop the pilot program MCI 2019 2020 Implementation of the pilot MCI 2019 2020 Mapping of institutional OA practices and policies in Romania MCI 2019 2020 Transposition of the developed rules on OA in the future funding programs for research, similar to the Horizon 2020 provisions MCI 2019 2020 Develop and adopt a national strategy on OA MCI 2019 2020 Additional information Correlation with other government programs/strategies National Strategy for the Digital Agenda, National Strategy for Research, Development and Innovation, Law no.1/2011 on national education, Ro-EU Partnership Agreement 2014-2020

IRM Midterm Status Summary

15. Open access to research results

Commitment Text: "The commitment aims to lead to the adoption of a national Open Access strategy for research results, by implementing pilot programs and substantiating research and public consultations."

Milestones:

    • Identify a pilot institution and develop the pilot program
    • Implementation of the pilot
    • Mapping of institutional OA practices and policies in Romania
    • Transposition of the developed rules on OA in the future funding programs for research, similar to the Horizon 2020 provisions
    • Develop and adopt a national strategy on OA

Start Date: 2018 ...............................................

End Date: 2020

Editorial Note: The commitment text is abridged. The full text can be found in the OGP 2018-2020 national action plan.

Context and Objectives

The European Commission has mandated compliance with the open access principles in the main funding programs for education and research (i.e., FP7, Erasmus +, Horizon 2020, European Research Forum). In April 2012, the Romanian Academy of Sciences signed a Statement of Open Science Support as a member of the All European Academies, which, together with the other signatories, called for "the implementation of Open Science principles for publications, research data, software, educational resources, and infrastructures research." [134] Since then, however, nationally funded research is not mandatorily published under open access, and there are very few open access publications. This decreases the chances of Romanian researchers to secure EU research grants, [135] and leaves the least experienced ones vulnerable to deceptive open access journals and magazines. [136] Consequently, many Romanian researchers resist publishing in open access journals, for fear that it may negatively impact their careers. [137]

This commitment has several objectives to help resolve this problem, from supporting a pilot policy for open access publishing of scientific results, financed with public funds, to creating a repository for the data thereby released. It therefore supports furthering access to information (i.e., research results). This will be aided by building a comprehensive IT infrastructure, capable of correctly storing and disseminating research results.

The milestones of this commitment are verifiable, but could be more detailed. In fact, open questions around how to implement the commitment have, at least in part, led to some disagreements between the Ministry of Research and Innovation (MCI) and the pilot implementing institution, the Institute for Researching the Quality of Life (ICCV), that will likely delay the creation of a single, interoperable repository of open access research. For instance, one of the disagreements centers around who has responsibility for constructing the portal: ICCV solely, or with assistance from MCI. [138] Some progress will be made with the implementation of the next National Strategy of Development, Research and Innovation (SNCDI) (2020 onward), which may put more emphasis on open access to research results. [139] But the interviewed MCI representative did not have a clear vision as to how the next SNCDI will be implemented, or how many funding programs will have an open access clause, or what percentage of research results will be made open. [140] Therefore, if this commitment is completed as written, it will likely have a minor impact on the quantity of open access research, as well as the overall quality of Romanian research.

Next steps

More intermediate steps are needed to transform the practices surrounding open access to research output in Romania. Romania currently consumes more scientific output than it produces, and consequently, stands to benefit from a proactive top-down implementation of open science principles. [141] The IRM researcher therefore recommends carrying this commitment forward to the next action plan, with the following recommendations to help improve its design and implementation:

Commit to nonwavering, larger scale, faster paced reforms.

  • MCI could conduct the mapping exercise (Milestone 3) as part of the preparations for the design of the new SNCDI, not as part of its implementation. According to a civil society representative, MCI could involve civil society organizations that have extensive experience in the field, as well as rely on the OpenAIRE expertise and resources. [142]
  • While mapping the open access practices and policies in Romania, MCI could identify the open access champions—i.e., institutions that have taken extraordinary steps to promote open access or open science. MCI could then publicly acknowledge their efforts and results by rewarding them or further sponsoring their efforts.
  • MCI could commit to offering nonwavering financial support to open access publishing. For instance, a budget can be constructed by multiplying the average number of publications produced by Romanian scientific staff with the average cost of publishing under open access. This fund could be set aside for research institutes, academia, and universities to cover the open access costs. According to the representative of the Romanian Academy, this fund would be a significant support to the open access efforts. [143]
  • Finally, MCI could impose a clause that requires funding recipients to publish at least 50 percent of their research output under open access for all research funds MCI offers. Only a high quota will create a meaningful impact.

Commit to the infrastructure and training necessary for open access.

  • MCI could take a leading role in piloting publishing research under open access. To this end, MCI could partner with the ICCV and devise a clear action plan with detailed responsibilities for each partner and a clear funding line for a national infrastructure that can be connected to other existing open access infrastructures. [144]
  • MCI could put together a team of experts and mandate them to promote open access across all major research institutes in Romania. In particular, the MCI experts could explain (during in-person trainings or through online trainings) the requirements for publishing under open access, the funds necessary and available and how to obtain them, the benefits from publishing open access, and the risks related to scam open access publications. Moreover, the experts could train and accredit the data specialist of each research institute to archive, retrieve, upload, and share research output across different open access platforms. [145]

[134] "Open Science for the 21st Century - A declaration of ALL European Academies", ALLEA General Assembly, 11-12 April 2012, available at http://bit.ly/2mmEWst.

[135] Interview with Ovidiu Voicu, Center for Public Innovation (CPI), 16 April 2019.

[136] Interview with Bogdan Simionescu, Romanian Academy, 2 September 2019.

[137] Interview with Eugen Scarlat, Ministry of Research and Innovation (MCI), 24 April 2019.

[138] Interview with Eugen Scarlat, MCI, 24 April 2019; Interview with Ovidiu Voicu, CPI, 16 April 2019;

[139] Interview with Eugen Scarlat, MCI, 24 April 2019.

[140] Interview with Eugen Scarlat, MCI, 24 April 2019.

[141] Simionescu, B. (2017) "Open science, un fenomen pregătit să schimbe realitatea cercetării", Market Watch, available [in Romanian] at http://bit.ly/2kGpY05.

[142] Interview with Ovidiu Voicu, CPI, 16 April 2019.

[143] Interview with Bogdan Simionescu, Romanian Academy, 2 September 2019.

[144] Interview with Ovidiu Voicu, CPI, 16 April 2019; Interview with Sorin Cace, Institute for Researching the Quality of Life (ICCV), 30 August 2019.

[145] Interview with Sorin Cace, ICCV, 30 August 2019; Interview with Bogdan Simionescu, Romanian Academy, 2 September 2019.

[146] European Commission (2018) "Education and Training Monitor: Romania", available at http://bit.ly/2m1potM.

Commitments

  1. Standardize Public Consultation Practices

    RO0048, 2018, E-Government

  2. Open Local Government

    RO0049, 2018, Capacity Building

  3. Citizen Budgets

    RO0050, 2018, Capacity Building

  4. Youth Participation

    RO0051, 2018, Capacity Building

  5. Register of Civil Society Proposals

    RO0052, 2018, E-Government

  6. Access to Information – Local

    RO0053, 2018, Capacity Building

  7. Online Business Sector Information

    RO0054, 2018, Capacity Building

  8. Digital Consular Services

    RO0055, 2018, Capacity Building

  9. Transparency in the Funding of Political Parties

    RO0056, 2018, Access to Information

  10. National Investment Fund Transparency

    RO0057, 2018, Access to Information

  11. Civil Servant Training

    RO0058, 2018, Capacity Building

  12. Raise Awareness About Corruption

    RO0059, 2018, Capacity Building

  13. Transparency of Seized Assets

    RO0060, 2018, Access to Information

  14. Access to Social Services

    RO0061, 2018, E-Government

  15. Open Access to Research

    RO0062, 2018, Access to Information

  16. Open Education

    RO0063, 2018, Access to Information

  17. Evaluate Open Data

    RO0064, 2018, Access to Information

  18. Open Data

    RO0065, 2018, Access to Information

  19. Improving the Legal Framework and Practices Regarding Access to Public Interest Information

    RO0030, 2016, Access to Information

  20. Centralized Publishing of Public Interest Information on the Single Gateway Transparenta.Gov.Ro

    RO0031, 2016, Capacity Building

  21. Promoting Open Parliament Principles

    RO0032, 2016, Capacity Building

  22. Starred commitment Improved Management of the Applications Submitted for Granting Citizenship

    RO0033, 2016, Capacity Building

  23. Standardization of Transparency Practices in the Decision-Making Procedures

    RO0034, 2016, Capacity Building

  24. Centralised Publication of Legislative Projects on the Single Gateway Consultare.Gov.Ro

    RO0035, 2016, Capacity Building

  25. Citizens Budgets

    RO0036, 2016, Capacity Building

  26. Improve Youth Consultation and Public Participation

    RO0037, 2016, Capacity Building

  27. Subnational Open Government

    RO0038, 2016, Capacity Building

  28. Promoting Transparency in the Decision-Making Process By Setting Up a Transparency Register (RUTI)

    RO0039, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  29. Access to Performance Indicators Monitored in the Implementation of the National Anticorruption Strategy (SNA)

    RO0040, 2016, Access to Information

  30. Improve Transparency in the Management of Seized Assets

    RO0041, 2016, Access to Information

  31. Annual Mandatory Training of Civil Servants on Integrity Matters

    RO0042, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  32. Improving Access to Cultural Heritage

    RO0043, 2016, Capacity Building

  33. Open Data and Transparency in Education

    RO0044, 2016, Access to Information

  34. Virtual School Library and Open Educational Resources

    RO0045, 2016, Capacity Building

  35. Open Contracting

    RO0046, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  36. Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data

    RO0047, 2016, Access to Information

  37. Publishing the Public Interest Information on a Single Government Portal: Transparenta.Gov.Ro

    RO0019, 2014, Access to Information

  38. Making an Inventory of the Datasets Produced by the Ministries and Subordinate Agencies

    RO0020, 2014, Access to Information

  39. Starred commitment Ensuring the Free Online Access to National Legislation

    RO0021, 2014, E-Government

  40. Amending Law 109/2007 on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information

    RO0022, 2014, Access to Information

  41. Opening Data Collected from the National Health System

    RO0023, 2014, Access to Information

  42. Opening Data Collected from the Monitoring of Preventive Measures as Part of the National Anticorruption Strategy 2012-2015

    RO0024, 2014, Access to Information

  43. Open Contracting

    RO0025, 2014, Anti-Corruption

  44. Opening up Data Resulted from Publicly-Funded Research Projects

    RO0026, 2014, E-Government

  45. Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data

    RO0027, 2014, Access to Information

  46. Human Resource Training in the Field of Open Data

    RO0028, 2014, Access to Information

  47. Disseminating Information on the OGP Principles and Promoting the Open Data Concept in an Accessible Manner

    RO0029, 2014,

  48. Designating a Person Responsible for Publishing Open Data in Each Public Institution

    RO0001, 2012, Access to Information

  49. Identifying Regulatory Needs, Logistical and Technical Solutions

    RO0002, 2012, Access to Information

  50. Making an Inventory of Available (High-Value) Data-Sets

    RO0003, 2012, Access to Information

  51. Priority Publishing on the Web Pages of Public Institutions of Specific Data-Sets

    RO0004, 2012, Access to Information

  52. Initiating Pilot-Projects, in Partnerships

    RO0005, 2012, Access to Information

  53. Organizing Public Debates on the Utility of Open Data, in Partnerships

    RO0006, 2012, Access to Information

  54. Uniform, Machine-Readable Publishing Format for Open Data

    RO0007, 2012, Access to Information

  55. Procedures for Publication of Data-Sets Based on Civil Society Recommendations

    RO0008, 2012, Access to Information

  56. Procedures for Citizen Complaints Pertaining to Open Data

    RO0009, 2012, Access to Information

  57. Consultation Mechanism Between Suppliers and Beneficiaries of Open Data

    RO0010, 2012, Access to Information

  58. Creating a Rating System for the Assessment of High-Value Data-Sets

    RO0011, 2012, Access to Information

  59. Routinely Publishing Specific Data-Sets on Web Pages of Public Institutions

    RO0012, 2012, Access to Information

  60. Integrating Open Data from Public Institutions in a Single National Platform

    RO0013, 2012, Access to Information

  61. Inventories of Data, in Order to Facilitate Public Access

    RO0014, 2012, Access to Information

  62. Institute a Monitoring Mechanism of Compliance for Open Data

    RO0015, 2012, Access to Information

  63. Stimulating the Market for Innovative Use of Open Data

    RO0016, 2012, Access to Information

  64. Routinely Publishing Data-Sets on the National Platform, 25% High-Value

    RO0017, 2012, Access to Information

  65. The Public Procurement Electronic System (SEAP). the Electronic Allocation System for Transports (SAET)/B.1 C) Expanding the On-Line Submission of Fiscal Forms. Ensuring the Free On-Line Access to National Legislation. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage Subpoenas and Facilitate Access Toinformation Regarding Legal Proceedings. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage the Procedures Related to Obtaining the Romanian Citizenship. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage the Procedures Related to the Creation of Non-Profit Legal Persons. the Integrated System for Electronic Access to Justice (SIIAEJ)

    RO0018, 2012, Access to Justice

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