A Swedish action plan for open science is underway within SUHF
NEWS
Work on formulating a Swedish action plan for open science is in progress at SUHF (The Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions). The action plan will complement SUHF's roadmap for open science and aims to support the task of achieving the government's goals for the Swedish adoption of open science practices.
Text: Sanna Isabel Ulfsparre
In March 2021, the Association of Swedish higher education institutions (Sveriges universitets- och högskoleförbund, SUHF) adopted a national roadmap for open science. The roadmap describes what the transition to open science entails and presents recommendations regarding the responsibility of higher education institutions in the development process.
The SUHF's coordination group for open science subsequently appointed a working group to identify what efforts are needed to ensure that developments at Swedish seats of learning follow international open science developments. Another aim is to enable seats of learning to further the development of conditions needed to meet the Government's expectations for Sweden's transition to open science.
In the research and innovation bill Forskning, frihet, framtid – kunskap och innovation för Sverige (Research, Freedom, Future - Knowledge and Innovation for Sweden, Prop. 2020/2:16), the Swedish Government states that:
By 2021, publicly funded scholarly publications will immediately be made openly accessible.
By 2026 (at the latest), research data will be made available as openly as possible and as closed as necessary.
The draft for an action plan presents a deepening and concretisation of the recommendations in the SUHF roadmap. It also proposes a framework for when seats of learning should aim to achieve different aspects of the recommendations to reach the Government's time targets.
The roadmap recommendations concern:
Research and development environments for open science
Research and education support services
FAIR principles for the management of research data
Infrastructure services that are secure and comply with the applicable regulatory and framework frameworks and FAIR principles
Collaboration with other institutions, infrastructures and funders
Support and involvement in international efforts to promote open science
Development of incentives that encourage and value open science practices (e.g. in merit assessment and funding allocation)
Discouragement of copyright for publications and re-use of research results being transferred exclusively to commercial scientific publishers.
Current development
The draft Action Plan was presented to the SUHF Assembly on 16 March. Work is now underway to revise the action plan based on the comments received, to be brought back to the Assembly. At the Assembly, the seats of learning are represented by their vice-chancellors and an additional representative who is either a director of administration or a head officer appointed by the vice-chancellor.
