106th Helmholtz Open Science Newsletter

1. The Perceived Tension between Open Science and Research Security

Does the paradigm “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” (or “intelligent openness”, as defined by the Royal Society) pose new challenges for scientists and institutions in view of rising international tensions? In this short commentary by the Helmholtz Open Science Office, we outline that this is generally not the case, and argue that open exchange of knowledge is and remains a cornerstone of science, also when research security requirements are changing.

Open science policies and practices aim at providing the broadest possible access to scientific knowledge, and they apply after an initial decision to publish has been made. The question whether to publish through open access platforms or through traditional subscription-based models is, however, irrelevant from a security perspective, as any online information is potentially accessible to anyone. Although rising security requirements do not necessarily suggest changes in the way research outcomes are published, they certainly influence decisions on what to publish. When publishing research outcomes – be it text, data, or software–, ensuring selective access only for trusted organizations or individuals is typically not a realistic option. Therefore, the consideration should rather be if security or privacy risks can be mitigated or if (part of the) outcomes should not be published at all. 

The real challenges arise much earlier in the research cycle and involve the careful selection (and possibly screening) of collaborators and agreeing on the legal frameworks and research integrity/ethics standards that apply. Sharing unpublished work with research partners requires careful consideration of whom to trust, especially in international contexts – see also recommendations such as those of CESAER (Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research) or the joint guidelines of the G7. Nevertheless, broadly agreed research integrity standards require that collaborators have full access to original (published and unpublished) data and code to ensure the credibility and shared responsibility of joint outputs. As such, restricting this access for collaborators not only risks undermining effective collaboration but also conflicts with good scientific practices.

The actual tension is therefore less about balancing “Open Science vs. Research Security”, but rather concerns “Collaboration vs. Research Security”. We must, however, not forget that the solutions to the great challenges of our time can only be realized through global collaboration. The greater danger to open science lies in becoming overly cautious (i.e., qualifying outputs as security risks without proper justification) and thereby withholding valuable contributions from the scientific community and society. To avoid this, research institutions are expected to put in place the appropriate mechanisms to carefully weigh security concerns when establishing collaborations, so that principles of openness and integrity can be upheld.

4. Update Research Data Act

The Research Data Act announced in the coalition agreement will not be implemented due to the premature end of the legislative period. The decision-making process failed due to departmental votes, in particular due to resistance to the BMBF's intended powers to issue regulations. The contents of the law met with mixed reactions from the scientific community: On the one hand, improved access to administrative data was welcomed; on the other hand, there was criticism of the planned obligation to publish metadata directories. It remains to be seen to what extent the next government will revisit access to administrative data and its possible uses.

5. Funding of Further NFDI Basic Services and Networking at Base4NFDI User Conference

In October 2024, Base4NFDI announced further funding for three basic services. RDMTraining4NFDI starts with the one-year initialization phase. RDMTraining4NFDI aims to create a modular collection of foundational training materials on research data management (RDM). Access to these materials will enable consortia to efficiently develop their own community-specific adaptation of such training. In addition, starting 2025, the basic services PID4NFDI, in which the Helmholtz Open Science Office is involved, and TS4NFDI will enter the second funding phase, the so-called integration phase. PID4NFDI aims to enhance the usability of existing persistent identifiers (PIDs). This will be achieved by supporting technical and organizational interoperability, improving metadata quality and by creating awareness through training and outreach. TS4NFDI aims to provide a central access point to all terminologies and supports cross-domain application, harmonization, and curation of terminologies. Both basic services will receive funding for a further two years.

November 2024 saw the first user conference of Base4NFDI take place in Berlin. The basic services and representatives of the consortia met to present the progress of their projects. PID4NFDI also took part in the Base4NFDI User Conference and used the opportunity to exchange ideas with other NFDI basic services and consortia as well as with (potential) use case partners. PID4NFDI presented the strategic framework of how persistent identifiers (PIDs) are central to FAIR research data management and thus pave the way for improving the reliability and accessibility of scientific research; it also showcased selected results from a survey on PIDs and prospective plans and resources in development by PID4NFDI.

6. EOSC EU-Node: An Important Step for Open Science in Europe

At the EOSC Symposium in Berlin in October 2024, the European Commission launched the productive phase of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) EU-Node. The launch of this first node represents an important step towards a federated system of nodes within the EOSC that will contribute to promoting scientific progress and innovation through open science practices in Europe.

The newly launched EU-Node of the EOSC provides a central platform for researchers to provide, share, and use research data as well as services across borders. It enables users to work efficiently and across disciplines with large amounts of data, develop advanced simulations, and perform complex calculations as well as collaborate across borders in a secure and integrated environment. With the transition to the production phase, the EOSC EU-node will provide a variety of new features and services, including improved data management tools and enhanced research data access capabilities. This should not only increase the efficiency of research, but also help to increase the visibility and impact of European scientists at a global level.

The Commission emphasizes that the EOSC is an essential part of its strategy to establish Europe as a leading location for open science. The initiative is supported by numerous partners from the international research community. As part of the EOSC-Symposium, the first results of a survey were presented, in which numerous participants signaled their technical readiness and expressed their willingness to become part of the federated EOSC as nodes. Several Helmholtz Centers are also already participating in the further developments within the EOSC.

7. OFA-Symposium 2024 - Open Source in the Global Digital Economy

This year's OpenForum Academy Symposium took place at Harvard University's Digital Data Design Institute in November 2024. The format is the only academic conference that deals with issues relating to the social, political, and economic impact of Open Source software and hardware. The aim of the symposium is to increase the visibility of Open Source and thereby better anchoring of the topic in research agendas. It also aims to promote the exchange of ideas within the Open Source community and to raise awareness of the social value of Open Source. It brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers, practitioners and political decision-makers from all over the world.

On two conference days, scientific contributions were presented in various thematic blocks. The diversity of contributions included possibilities for financial support and sustainability of Open Source projects as well as fundamental economic issues. In addition, various aspects of diversification in Open Source, the influence and use of AI in this context and the possible role of public digital infrastructures were discussed. Furthermore, Open Source in the public sector and associated issues relating to digital sovereignty were discussed. The relevance of so-called Open Source Program Offices (OSPO), which are more common in the US, was emphasized. OSPOs are competence centres that bundle and provide expertise on Open Source-related issues, such as licensing or exploitation options, in their organizational contexts. OSPOs can be organizational units on their own or bring together the expertise of different organizational units in a more virtual form. Johan Linåker from Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) presented his research on archetypes of OSPOs and the transferability of this concept, which originates more from the business world, to the public sector. The associated report will be published in the coming months – Linåker has already provided some initial insights in his blog post. Linåker will also present his work in the upcoming 70th Helmholtz Open Science Online Seminar on “Public Sector Open Source Program Offices - Archetypes for how to Grow (Common) Institutional Capabilities” on January, 22, 2025 (further information and registration).

8. Open Science Requires Free Software - the Case of Anaconda

The use of the Anaconda support tool is widespread among software developers who work with the Python programming language. Users working in non-commercial or scientific organizations were able to use the software free of charge and were convinced that Anaconda was FOSS – Free and Open Source Software. In fact, this is not the case. In 2020, the company of the same name changed the terms of use for its software. Since then, free use in privileged organization types is only permitted if they have no more than 200 employees. Although the change to the terms of use was made several years ago, it was not until this year that Helmholtz Centers received requests to license the software or discontinue its use. This news hit many users hard.

This example shows how important it is to pay attention to the license conditions when developing and operating open science infrastructure and corresponding software. FOSS is a central building block for Open Science. This is due to economic considerations and in many cases as a prerequisite for compliance with the requirements of good scientific practice. FOSS therefore comprises two freedoms: free usability and permission to view and further develop the program code. In the current case, HIFIS has already reacted and compiled an overview of free software offerings that can replace Anaconda, at least in part.

10. Season's Greetings

The Helmholtz Open Science Office wishes you happy holidays and a happy and healthy new year!

With best wishes from Mathijs Vleugel, Christoph Bruch, Lea Maria Ferguson, Steffi Genderjahn, Marc Lange, Marcel Meistring, Heinz Pampel, Johannes Schneider, Paul Schultze-Motel, and Leonie Voland

Recommended Reading

ALLEA statement in support of secondary publication rights for scholarly articles. (2024). The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA). https://doi.org/10.26356/ALLEA-SPRS-STATEMENT

Beigel, F. (2024). Cartographies for an inclusive Open Science. SciELO Preprints. https://doi.org/10.1590/SciELOPreprints.10286

Casadevall, A., Clark, L. F., & Fang, F. C. (2024). The changing roles of scientific journals. mBio, 15(11), e02515-24. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02515-24

Jensen, E. A., & Katz, D. S. (2024). Strategic priorities and challenges in research software funding: results from an international survey. F1000Research. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.155879.1

Kernchen, S., Meinel, M., Druskat, S., Fritzsche, M., Pape, D., & Bertuch, O. (2024). Extending and applying automated HERMES software publication workflows. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2410.17614

Morris, J., & Saenen, B. (2024). Strategic approaches to and research assessment of open science [Survey report]. Science Europe. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13961124

Yoose, B., & Shockey, N. (2024). Navigating risk in vendor data privacy practices. An analysis of Springer Nature’s SpringerLink. SPARC. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13886473