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OP JAK – New Methodological Letters

On 2 December 2025, the Managing Authority of OP JAK published methodological letters to the Rules for Applicants and Beneficiaries – the specific sections of Calls (CZE) No. 02_22_008 Cutting-edge Research, No. 02_23_020 Intersectoral Cooperation, No. 02_23_021 Intersectoral Cooperation for ITI, and No. 02_23_025 Social Sciences and Humanities: Humanity in the Global Challenges of Today.

The methodological letter amends the beneficiaries’ obligations regarding compliance with mandatory procedures of open science, setting identical rules for all calls. This amendment fulfills the commitment made by V. Velčovský at the RVVI meeting on 24 October 2025 (CZE); see also the previous news.

Requirement to sign an amendment to the legal act

Recipients who express interest in the revised rules will be issued an addendum to the legal act of the given project upon request. This procedure is legally necessary, as the rules form an integral part of the decision as its annex. Without an amendment to the legal act, the original version will continue to apply to the recipient.

Implemented changes:

  • The “mandatory procedures” of open science will now only apply to J-type publications (according to the Methodology for the Evaluation of Research Organizations 2025+). For other publications, these procedures will be recommended.
  • An exception will also be allowed in the case of publications whose corresponding author (but only the corresponding author, not the co-author) is affiliated with a foreign research organization. This will take into account the potentially incompatible publication practices of the main author’s foreign home institution.
  • If the implementation of these amended rules results in savings in planned financial resources, the transfer of these savings to another budget chapter will not be permitted. The main reason for this is to ensure consistent compliance with the principles of equal access, 3E, public resources, and to prevent possible purposeful conduct.
  • The limit on the maximum employment level (FTE) for a data steward has been removed.

Methodological letters for individual calls (CZE):

Last updated on December 3, 2025