National Open Science Strategy (SK0131)

Promoting open access to the results of science and research contributes to increasingtransparency in the management of public resources, giving citizens the opportunity to inform themselveson publicly funded science and research outputs. The benefits of open accessto the results of science and research in increasing transparency and having a positive impact onimproving the quality of science and research is also acknowledged by the European Union, which, under Horizon2020 28 introduced a condition for publishing the results of this program to the publicLicensed. Horizon 2020 will be followed by the Horizon Europe program in which it is being puta strong emphasis on the transition from strengthening openness towards open science policies. 29In addition, several research funding institutions (eg from Germany, Finland, Norway, Luxembourg orWith the support of the European Commission and the European Research Council in September2018 the establishment of Coalition S and subsequently Plan S, whose vision is to "with effect from2021 were all scientific publications concerning the results of publicly funded research; orprivate resources provided by national, regional and international researchresearch funding boards and institutions compulsorily published in scientific journalsopen access platforms or open access platforms, or instantly accessible withoutany embargo through open access repositories. '30 SupportedFor the development of open access, it is desirable for the Agency to sign up to Plan S as of 31 December 2020to support research and development in Slovakia.

To achieve this, it is necessary to develop a national strategy of open science that will:build on previous action plans, similar to the theme of open learningresources were devoted primarily to the initial mapping of the situation, existing conditionsand the creation of space for the development of open access to the results of science and research in Slovakiathrough the establishment of the legislative framework and the financial and technical background or disseminationawareness of this topic.

An important part of the development of the theme of open access to the results of science and research remainsbuilding and filling a repository for storage, long-term archiving and accessSlovak scientific and professional publications, research data and gray literature from the Action PlanOGP 2017 - 2018. In parallel with the repository, however, it is necessary to complete mapping of formatsoutputs from scientific and research institutions in Slovakia, which will be used for the repository.

In order to further develop the topic of open science in Slovakia, it is appropriate to continue educationmanagement of researchers, academics or library staff of individual universities; andresearch institutions on the benefits of open access. Mapping readiness themselvesscience and research and academic institutions on open access that will be in the futurethe European Structural and Investment Funds programming periodfinancial resources will benefit the effective setting of the Open Science Strategy. Within strategy is desirable to map the amount of APC fees that currently pay for science-research institutes (mainly universities and Slovak Academy of Sciences). Is anit is necessary to create space for pilot testing of open access on at least onethe Slovak Public High School and the Slovak Academy of Sciences with a view to the futurethey were able to set the conditions that must be met for the introduction of broad-based open access(personnel and material provision of workplaces, training, education, providing incentives andrewards to researchers publishing in open access, evaluation criteria for research,which take into account the use of open scientific procedures, etc.).In the context of Open Access and Open Science / Science 2.0, new approaches are also being exploredevaluation of research at all levels (eg research publications and projects, researchworkers, laboratories, universities) that reflect the urgent need to change the current paradigm andthey require a multifactorial and multidimensional assessment, taking into account a wide range of elementsbeyond the impact factor of the magazine used today. The European Commission in its activities inIn the area of ​​open science and Horizon 2020, it has also developed several evaluation initiativesresearch, set up working groups and published two reports on remuneration and skills foropen science. The proposed changes can have a positive impact on increasing visibilityand citation of Slovak science and its use at the application level.It is necessary to continue to develop favorable conditions and tools to improve accesspublic to the results of science (the concept of the so-called citizen science 36 ), thanks to which participatory developsthe potential of the public to participate in science and research. Involvement of citizens in research requiresat least a minimum degree of openness, including methodology, access to literature and data,communication on the objectives and results of research projects. The concept of "citizen science" canwith the concept of open science together to address major challenges such as reducing the trust of societyscience and facilitating the transfer of knowledge between science and society to stimulate innovation.

Specific milestones towards the goal:
14. Develop a National Strategy for Open Science together with an Action Plan and submit it to Negotiations of the Slovak Government
Deadline: 20 December 2020
Responsible: Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic

15. Prepare and launch pilot projects to introduce open access to science results and research in academic and scientific libraries
Deadline: until 31 December 2021
Responsible: Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic

6. Advance and implement the National Strategy for Open Science   

Main Objective

“Develop and adopt the National Strategy for Open Science.” [97] 

Milestones

1. Prepare the National Strategy for Open Science accompanied by the first Action Plan and submit both to the Government of the Slovak Republic.
2. Prepare and launch pilot projects on open access to scientific research and development in selected academic and scientific libraries.

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Slovakia’s action plan at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/slovakia-action-plan-2019-2021/.

Commitment Analysis

This commitment will put into practice the National Strategy for Open Science and prepare and launch pilot open access projects in scientific institutions.

It is relevant to the OGP value of access to information as it will help to put more scientific research into the public sphere.

Although open science commitments have appeared in the Slovak action plans [98] since 2015, no scholarly organization in Slovakia has signaled interest in open access by endorsing OA2020 Expression of Interest, [99] and the Slovak national research funding body [100] has not joined the European-level initiative to full open access of publicly funded research and scholarly outputs (known as Plan S). From V4 countries, [101] only the National Science Center in Poland [102] has ratified Plan S. Although joining Plan S does not appear in the new action plan as a formal commitment, the action plan clearly states that it would be desirable for the Slovak Research and Development Agency to do so. [103]     

Previous action plans established the Open Access (OA) Point of Contact, [104] a contact office responsible for promoting open access in the Slovak research and scientific community and providing advice. A survey completed by 109 scientists, conducted by the IRM researcher for this report, shows that they are familiar with the concept of open access. [105] Only 17 percent of respondents had heard of the OA Point of Contact and only 4 percent had participated in some of their events or training. An expert on open education and access [106] stated that the OA Point of Contact is fit for purpose, its staff has expert knowledge in the topics, and events and materials they produce are of high quality.

The pilot projects could help demonstrate how a centralized repository for research outputs and data would improve current data management practices significantly. In the absence of a repository and joined strategy, the access to research and scholarly outputs and data is burdensome as the management is too decentralized (if at all existing), as an interviewee for this report [107] argued. Only 12 percent of scientists surveyed for this report stated that their research institutes and universities had issued data management guidance. At the time of writing this report (April 2020), the repository developed under previous action plans [108] is due to be launched in July 2020 and is undergoing final touches. In addition, with public availability of research outputs and data, the pilot projects could also encourage civic engagement in scientific projects. Citizen science is a topic the strategy plans to include.    

However, an interviewed researcher [109] argued that he did not see substantial benefit of the repository for his work. Researchers and scientists can choose from several open-access archives to publish their pre-prints (pre-reviewing versions) and often accepted (post-reviewing) versions of their articles as many publishers’ licensing policies allow it. Many of them already use collaborative open-source tools, such as GitHub, [110] to share the data. That said, if it will be mandatory to publish publicly funded research outputs and data in the repository, it will provide a better overview of the research conducted in Slovakia.       

As for the National Strategy for Open Science, surveyed researchers raised a number of concerns that could be addressed. While an expert [111] interviewed for this report argued that having a strategy is a step forward, respondents to the survey for this report repeatedly mentioned several issues as necessary to be addressed in the strategy: emphasis on green open access (the practice of publishing journal articles into a free and publicly accessible repository), [112] research transparency and access to data, easily accessible and systematic funding for publishing research outputs in an OA regime (not as a part of individual research grants), guidance on predatory open access journals, and most importantly better access to literature in their fields and to scientific databases. Although Slovakia increased its R&D investment intensity over the past decade, it is still low compared to other EU member states. [113]

All in all, the commitment to develop and adopt the National Strategy for Open Science is a timely and important effort. However, with only a series of pilot projects to test the strategy, the commitment will have minor overall impact. The strategy preparation could involve members of the research and scientific community. 

6. Advance and implement the National Strategy for Open Science

Complete

The National Strategy for Open Science [57] was adopted on 9 June 2021, together with the Action Plan for Open Science. [58] Its preparation was led by the Open Access point of contact, [59] an office responsible for promoting, and providing guidance on, open access in the Slovak academic and scientific community. The process of discussing and drafting the strategy took place from June to September 2020 and was open to relevant stakeholders. The first draft of the strategy was publicly available online, [60] and anyone interested could comment on it anonymously or using their affiliation. Several events were organised to raise awareness of participating in the drafting process. [61] Yet, the message did not reach some scientific communities; a representative of Žijem vedu (I Live in Science) stated that they did not receive any communication in this regard. [62] All in all, over 70 comments were submitted. The comparison of the draft strategy with the adopted version demonstrates that most comments were addressed. However, some comments [63] questioned the need for a national repository for research and data (this was a commitment from the previous action plan) [64] when international alternatives with a broader reach are available. Researchers also emphasised that if open access should become a norm, then research-funding agencies need to change grant conditions to require (and support) open access by default. Nonetheless, as was already emphasised in the previous IRM reports, [65] the academic and scientific community felt problems beyond open access needed to be dealt with urgently.

The second milestone—to launch pilot open access projects in selected scientific institutions—was also completed. [66] On 1 September 2021, the Scientific Library of the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (CVTI SR) [67] launched the Open Science Publishing House, which will support the Slovak academic and scientific community in publishing their work in open access under the CCBY 4.0 license. [68] The representative of CVTI SR stated that the Publishing House plans to set up a fund to pay for the manuscripts’ royalties and reviewers’ fees. Although it was established just recently, the Publishing House already is collaborating with authors on their manuscripts, due to be published at the beginning of 2022. [69]

As a part of the second milestone, the Central Library of the Slovak Academy of Sciences launched its institutional repository, [70] where authors can upload digital versions of their works under the green Open Access framework. [71] A scientist at the Slovak Academy of Sciences stated that the repository does not create any additional burden to her work, as her institute has a dedicated person who uploads works on the researchers’ behalf. [72] She acknowledges some benefits of the repository, e.g., it collects researchers’ information required for grants. Nonetheless, she would instead welcome the creation of a repository of internationally recognized grant evaluators for each scientific area, [73] as grant distribution for science and research in Slovak Republic has been accompanied by a lack of transparency and appropriate expert judgement in the past. [74]