NEWS
The Royal Library of Sweden (KB) and the Swedish Research Council (VR) have government mandates to promote and coordinate the national development towards open science. Now both agencies have released reports on their work.
Text: Sanna Isabel Ulfsparre
Sweden and Europe are actively and purposefully implementing open science as the norm for scholarly activities. On behalf of the government, the Royal Library of Sweden (KB) is responsible for promoting and coordinating work on open access to scholarly publications, and the Swedish Research Council (VR) has a similar role in research data.
In March, both KB and VR released reports describing the work. They also present proposals for measures to promote the transition to an open science system in the future. Both KB and VR recommend further policy and strategy work on a national level, and both agencies are seeking further mandates in their respective areas of responsibility.
VR's recommendations have a clear focus on research data, while KB takes a more system-wide perspective and talks about open science and open science systems. An example of this broader perspective is how the KB recommendations on a national policy for open science as a whole, not limited to the KB area of responsibility (scientific publications). Given the European Commission's ambitions for open science, such a policy could also include
research data
merit systems
training and skills development
ethical aspects such as research integrity and reproducibility
development of metrics for open science practices
citizen science.
KB also recommends that the government analyses the existing regulatory framework to identify and propose changes where existing rules limit the opportunities for the development of open science.
On 20 April, there will be a webinar where both VR and KB present the results of the respective missions. There will also be an opportunity to discuss further developments. More details on the webinar will be published on the KB website.
