An important and indispensable role in the implementation of Open Science is played by internal thematic policies and related conceptual materials of the research institutions.
These materials may have different levels of generality and different purposes. Each of these documents fulfils its function in transforming scientific practice towards greater openness, ease of replication, verifiability and reusability.
There are three basic types of documents:
- Internal policies, by which departments declare (internally, but also externally) their decision to pursue a desired practice across their research teams. These documents often also serve as a kind of reference for the credibility of the researchers’ promised practice of implementing Open Science practices when submitting individual projects.
In developing this type of document, inspiration can be drawn from the template created by OpenAIRE „Model Policy on Open Science for Research Performing Organisations„. (The form of this template is based on recommendations from various institutions: UNESCO Open Science policy development process, the UNESCO Open Access policy development guidelines, the MedOANet guidelines for Open Access, the PASTEUR4OA Toolkit and Policy Guidelines, the RECODE project policy recommendations for Open Access policies to research data, the LEARN project Model Research Data Management Policy, a SPARC Europe report on Open Data and Open Science policies in Europe.)
In its decentralized structure, the CAS is similar to the “Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers”, which has a general central Helmholtz Open Science Policy. The individual research centres of this association have their own discipline- and topic-specific policies.
- Strategic documents, a kind of roadmap, describing how the centres plan to transform current practice and achieve the desired state, i.e. in our context more open science, greater accessibility of publication results, more systematic management of research data, etc. Depending on the timeframe addressed by these documents, we can distinguish between longer-term, general strategies and follow-up implementation documents aimed at shorter period – the so-called action plans. Implementation documents are characterised by a detailed elaboration of the necessary activities – i.e. what needs to be done in individual sub-steps, with a clear definition of the responsibilities and roles of specific staff, planned financing and, last but not least, the setting of deadlines and performance indicators.
When creating this type of document, it is possible to draw inspiration from templates and methodological materials of the state administration and local governments – for this purpose, the Ministry for Regional Development operates the Portal of Strategic Work in the Czech Republic.- An example from the field of academic self-government:
- Methodological materials – the very practical (operational) level of management – orders of department directors and other forms of internal regulations defining in detail how to proceed – for example, when publishing results or handling research data.
- Examples from the CAS
In July 2023, we asked the institutions of the CAS to share the good practices that we have been trying to communicate since then. We are also trying to connect those responsible for this issue across departments so that good practice can be replicated and synergies can be achieved. It can be noted that the approach to the issue varies considerably, mainly according to the specifics of the disciplines and the capabilities of individual departments.
Czech Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences does not currently have a policy at the central level dedicated exclusively to Open Science, however, attention is paid to related subtopics. A subsidiary body of the Academic Council, the “Commission for Scientific Information and Open Science of the CAS“, also deals with the issue.
Code of Ethics for Researchers in the CAS
The Code of Ethics for Researchers of the CAS states, among other things, the following:
“A researcher: when publishing findings and results on a particular problem, is responsible for their completeness and verifiability and interprets them without bias; after publication, retains primary data and documentation of all significant results for the period of time customary in the relevant discipline, unless prevented by other obligations or regulations; publishes with the aim of communicating results and findings to the scientific community, not merely to report work as scientific output.”
Open Access Policy in the CAS
At the 21st meeting of the Academic Council of the CAS on 14 October 2010, the Open Access Policy was approved:
“An essential part of the academic mission is to ensure that the results of the scientific activities of the CAS and its departments can be used by the widest possible community of scientists and other users of research results, as well as by the general public.
The current opportunities in electronic publishing lead the CAS to support initiatives that expand the range of opportunities for free publication and dissemination of scientific results. The CAS is committed to disseminating the results of scientific research as widely as possible.
In accordance with this commitment, the CAS adopts the following publication policy: the CAS Institutes are obliged to make every effort to provide the CAS and the Library of the CAS, v. v. i., (hereinafter referred to as “KNAV”) with publication outputs – employee works – created by their employees and non-exclusive licenses to use them, in particular the right to reproduce by any means and in any form and the right to communicate the work to the public within the legal framework of the Czech Republic and with respect to any licensing arrangements with publishers. In order to comply with this publication policy, the Institutes of the CAS, as employers of authors, are obliged to ensure that their exercise of copyright ownership rights to these employee works is not restricted. (…)
Publication outputs will be provided in electronic form. KNAV will ensure that they are deposited in the repository of the CAS and made available to the public as soon as possible, taking into account the fact that some publishers may impose a publication embargo on these works…”
CAS and related international declarations, coalitions and initiatives
- Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003 – AV ČR joined in 2008)
- Open Science for the 21 st century – A declaration of ALL European Academies (2012 – AV ČR is memeber)
- Expression of Interest iniciativy OA2020 (2016 AV ČR joined in 2016)
- Coalition for Advancing Research Assessme (COARA) (2022 – AV ČR joined 2022)
