The Open and Universal Science (OPUS) project will develop coordination and support measures to reform the assessment of research and researchers at Research Performing Organisations(RPOs) and Research Funding Organisations(RFOs) towards a system that incentivises and rewards researchers to practise Open Science. We understand the term ‘Open Science’ to refer to practices providing open access to research outputs, early and open sharing of research, participation in open peer-review, measures to ensure reproducibility of results, involving all stakeholders in cocreation. We henceforth in this proposal employ this interpretation of Open Science with a specific focus on reforming the research(er) assessment system to incentivise and reward researchers to take up these practices. OPUS employs a three tiered approach to ensure representation and consensus building of key stakeholder groups in the Open Science ecosystem: (1) our large project consortium consists of researcher organisations, RPOs, RFOs, industry organisations, and experts in project management, public relations, and Open Science (2) a series of stakeholder engagement sessions will be held with the broader community to gather input and validate key project deliverables (3) an Advisory Board of key representatives will ensure expert oversight and links to the community. • Objective 1: Conduct a comprehensive state-of-the-art on existing literature and initiatives for Open Science • Objective 2: Develop a comprehensive set of interventions to implement Open Science at RPOs and RFOs • Objective 3: Develop realistic indicators and metrics to monitor and drive Open Science at RPOs and RFOs • Objective 4: Test the interventions and indicators and metrics via action plans in pilots at RPOs and RFOs • Objective 5: Utilise a stakeholder-driven feed-back loop to develop, monitor, refine, and validate actions • Objective 6: Synthesise outcomes into policy briefs and a revised OS-CAM2 for research(er) assessment.

As one of the first in a series of projects foreseen under GN5-FPA, GN5-1 aims to provide faster, more resilient and secure connectivity infrastructure and collaboration services to enable researchers and students’ access to applications that support evidence-based and effective collaboration across virtual research teams, worldwide. GN5-1 will continue the development of state-of-the art, cost-effective, secure and resilient connectivity to provide unconstrained capacity ahead of demand in the backbone network and NREN access in multiples of 100Gbps, delivering Terabit connectivity where needed. GN5-1 will prototype, pilot and, where appropriate, procure new online above-the-net services and deliver pervasive, innovative and distributed trust and identity infrastructure and services to achieve strategic positioning of T&I services as a key enabler of research and education collaboration within Europe. Trusted access to data sources and services, and authentication and authorisation Infrastructure services, such as eIDAS will also be included. The project will address Horizon Europe’s priorities in areas such as data security and access control, innovation and DNSH, and will expand NRENs' users beyond traditional scientific and research communities, enabling networking and access to the common European data spaces. GN5-1 will ensure access for researchers and students to the valued services required for Open Science, it will disseminate learning and training, and build community as well as align with EU policies and ongoing participation with standardisation bodies. GN5-1 can offer its distinctive services due to its human network of professionals, in a consortium with a deep understanding of evolving user requirements. Within this community, knowledge and experience is shared between partners to constantly enhance the quality of the services offered, making it an indispensable element of the ERA.

Academic books continue to play an important role in scholarly production and research communication, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. As an important output of scholarly production, academic books must be included in open science/open access policies and strategies developed by research funders and institutions, to ensure that open science becomes the modus operandi of modern science across all disciplines. However, contrary to article publishing in journals (especially in the areas of Science, Technology, and Medicine) academic books have not been a focus point for open access (OA) policymakers. Consequently books are only rarely mandated to be published OA by research funders and institutions. PALOMERA will investigate the reasons for this situation across geographies, languages, economies, and disciplines within the European Research Area (ERA). Through desk studies, surveys, in-depth interviews, and use cases, PALOMERA will collect,structure, analyse, and make available knowledge that can explain the challenges and bottlenecksthat prevent OA to academic books. Based on this evidence PALOMERA will provide actionable recommendations and concrete resources to support and coordinate aligned funder and institutional policies for OA books, with the overall objective of speeding up the transition to open access for books to further promote open science. The recommendations will address all relevant stakeholders (research funders and institutions, researchers, publishers, infrastructure providers, libraries, and national policymakers). The PALOMERA consortium broadly represents all relevant stakeholders for OA academic books, but will facilitate co-creation and validation events throughout the project to ensure that the views and voices of all relevant stakeholders are represented, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.This will assure maximal consensus and take-up of the recommendations.no project summaryno public description

In the transition towards Open Access(OA), institutional publishing is challenged by fragmentation and varying service quality, visibility, and sustainability. To address this issue, DIAMAS gathers 23 organisations from 12 European countries, well-versed in OA academic publishing and scholarly communication. The project will: 1. Map the current landscape of Institutional Publishing Service Providers (IPSPs) in 25 countries of the ERA with special attention for IPSPs that do not charge fees for publishing or reading. This will yield a taxonomy of IPSPs and an IPSP landscape report, a basis for the rest of the project. 2. Coordinate and improve the efficiency and quality of IPSPs by developing a European Quality Standard for Institutional Publishing (EQSIP). This quality seal will professionalise, strengthen and reduce the fragmentation of institutional publishing in Europe. EQSIP will serve as a benchmark for a gap analysis of the data in (1). Buy-in and capacity-building is ensured by co-creation with the relevant IPSP communities of practice, creating a Common Access Point for IPSPs, an IPSP registry with 80% of IPSPs in the ERA, publishing guidelines, training materials, self-assessment tools, financial models, and shared cost frameworks. DIAMAS embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion by addressing gender equity in OA publishing and multilingualism in 15 European languages. Special attention is paid to building and enabling the financial sustainability of IPSPs. 3. Formulate community-led, actionable recommendations and strategies for institutional leaders, funders/sponsors/donors, and policymakers in the European Research Area (ERA). Workshops and targeted networking actions will reach and engage institutional decision-makers. In 36 months, DIAMAS will deliver an aligned, high-quality, and sustainable institutional OA scholarly publication ecosystem for the ERA, setting a new standard for OA publishing, shared and co-designed with all stakeholders.

The OPERAS-PLUS project will support the further development of OPERAS in its preparatory phase of new ESFRI Research Infrastructure projects. OPERAS is the Research Infrastructure dedicated to enhance open scholarly communication for the Social Sciences and the Humanities in the European Research Area (ERA). Designed as a distributed infrastructure, it was incorporated as an AISBL in 2019. OPERAS entered the ESFRI roadmap in 2021 and is now on its path to become operational as an ERIC in 2028. The OPERAS-PLUS project will serve the OPERAS community with its wide variety of small-sized stakeholders, which are committed to make open scholarly communication the default practice in Social Sciences and Humanities in the ERA. In that sense, OPERAS-PLUS will provide an operational and efficient framework to meet the needs and objectives of the OPERAS community with solutions of utmost quality, thus fulfilling the European Commission‘s expectations of scientific excellence. The project’s main objectives are 1) to develop and strengthen OPERAS governance structure, especially financial, legal, and human resource management aspects of the infrastructure central hub in a sustainable way, compliant with Research Infrastructure management best practises; 2) to support the establishment and development of OPERAS national nodes, set up and manage the workflow of bidirectional exchange with the central hub; 3) to develop OPERAS portfolio of services by providing both required technology and a monitoring system for services development via an Innovation Lab dedicated to this task; and 4) to maximise OPERAS’ impact in the ERA and at an international level by extending it beyond its current scope and onboarding new members and countries in the infrastructure.