DECLARATION

DECLARATION

Guiding principles for Open Science

The openness of the whole process is one of the fundamental values in science and research. The principles and practices of open science help to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of research, both in the research community and in the wider society. Open science practices enable open, widespread use of research results, data, methods, and infrastructures, increasing the impact and mobility of research-acquired knowledge, which in turn complements general knowledge and encourages new innovations. The quality and transparency of research can only be increased as a result of open access, including results, data, methods and publications. With the help of open science all stakeholders in society will get equal access to this knowledge.

The ambitions of Open Science

According to the European Commission, the implementation of open science should achieve 8 goals:

1. Open data: FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable data) data sharing should become the default scientific collaboration form funded by the European Commission.

2. European Open Science Cloud (EOSC): – The European Open Science Cloud as a ‘federated ecosystem of research data infrastructures’ will allow the scientific community to share and process publicly funded research results and data across borders and scientific domains.

3.  New Generation Metrics: New indicators will complement the conventional indicators for research quality and impact, so as to do justice to open science practices.

4. Future of scholarly communication: All peer-reviewed scientific publications should be freely accessible, and the early sharing of different kinds of research outputs should be encouraged.

5. Rewards: Research career evaluation systems should fully acknowledge open science activities.

6.  Research integrity: All publicly funded research in the EU should adhere to commonly agreed standards of research integrity.

7. Education and skills: All scientists in Europe should have the necessary skills and access to education on the principles of open science.

8. Citizen science: The general public should be able to make significant contributions and be recognised as valid European science knowledge producer.

Open Science mission

Open science and research should be integrated into the daily researchers routine and should support high quality effective research through:

• Promoting openness as a fundamental value of the research community

• Strengthening general knowledge and opportunities for innovation

• Improving the quality of scientific and artistic research results and their impact on society

• Strengthening the links between researchers and research teams, interdisciplinarity between research and education, between researchers and the private and public sectors, as well as between researchers and citizens.

Implementation of Open Science through

Open publications and data

Scientific publications (papers, books, reports, etc.) for which public sector funding has been received should be openly available to anyone from anywhere in the world for consultation and reuse.

Researchers should be able, where permitted, to re-use research data and to exchange their research data in an easy and simple way using agreed standards and methodologies.

Support for multidisciplinary and multilingual research is of great importance to society and therefore researchers should have open, equal and free access to publications and research data. Research data management should be based on FAIR data principles.

Open services and infrastructures

Appropriate open services and infrastructures are also needed to support open science. In addition to the existing ones, it is especially important to implement future infrastructure that will enable full implementation of the principles of open science in all areas of research activities through adequate services for researchers.

The EOSC Declaration, signed on 10.07.2017 in Brussels, launched the initiative and plan for the transformation of European research through the development of services and infrastructure to support open science. EOSC is conceived as the only digital platform that should offer researchers access to all the services needed to support the development of open science throughout the research process. The activities for the implementation of open science principles should help the support, development, and implementation of thethe EOSC initiative by establishing dialogue between researchers, service providers and research funds.

Joint Declaration for the Research Community in Albania

The research community in Albania consists of several stakeholders:

• Individual researchers

• Candidates for PhD studies

• Research organizations such as universities and institutes together with their researchers and research teams

• Academies and scientific boards and committees

• Organizations and bodies offering research funds such as the Ministry of Science and Education and the Innovation Fund

• Service providers that develop an open science infrastructure

• Research libraries and archives

• The whole society

• Publishers of research results

• Innovation and research companies

• Creators of policies and legislation for science and research, such as the Ministry of Education and Sports and the Government at the state level, but also the senates of universities/presidencies or councils of institutions.

This Declaration on Open Science Cloud Research is open to all stakeholders belonging to the research community in the country to promote openness at the national level. By accepting the Declaration of Open Science and Research, members of the research community of Albania express their individual or institutional interest in promoting the goals of open science in their organization and participating in the dissemination of those principles at the national level.

The purpose of this Joint Declaration is to support and emphasize openness as a fundamental value for raising the quality of research and the autonomy of researchers. Principles and practices for promoting openness offer space for the development of science and researchers in an independent way. Independent research communities can thus be more closely linked to the rest of society and influence its development.

The National Open Science Initiative in the Cloud aims to build a partnership with the Ministry of Education and Sports to contribute to the development and upgrading of national legislation and the incorporation of the principles of open science in it.

To sign the declaration, click  here