93rd Helmholtz Open Science Newsletter

1. Communiqué of G7 Science Ministers

In the framework of the G7 presidency of Germany, the science ministers of the member states met from June 12 to 14, 2022. The meeting was concluded with a communiqué, which includes a three-chapter annex. The second of these three chapters is dedicated to the topic of open science. There, the science ministers reaffirm the relevance of the open science paradigm: “We, as G7 members, commit to working together to uphold the principles that underpin effective international research collaboration in science and research. Our shared and common principles provide the foundational basis for practices that preserve and protect open and reciprocal research collaborations, while managing known and evolving risks.”

Explicit reference is made to efforts to make research data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and, in this context, to strengthen open science infrastructures.

2. Open Science in “Chips and Science Act” in the US

In the USA, the $280 billion “Chips and Science Act” was recently passed. In addition to promoting chip manufacturing and various investments in technology and science, the act also impacts the National Science Foundation (NSF).

In relation to open science, the section “10344 Research Reproducibility and Replicability” (PDF) is particularly relevant (p. 516-519). There are especially two paragraphs that relate to NSF's future open science funding policy. One calls for the use of machine-readable data management plans (DMP) in NSF funding, and the other affects the development of repositories based on defined criteria in cooperation with other federal agencies.

Also of interest in this context: The U.S. government's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) published a guide for data repositories in May 2022. This guidance describes requirements for research data repositories. It is intended to assist federal agencies (NASA, NIH, etc.) in implementing the “Memorandum on Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research” from 2013.

4. Joint Open Access Publishing Platform Founded: Berlin Universities Publishing

In June 2022, the four partners of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA), Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, announced the founding of the joint, academic, and non-commercial open access publishing platform “Berlin Universities Publishing” (BerlinUP). BerlinUP enables scientists from the four institutions to publish the results of their research activities in quality-assured books and journals. Furthermore, BerlinUP supports open access authors with consulting services. More information is available on the publisher's website (German only).

5. Open Research Europe Accepted for Indexing in Scopus

Open Research Europe has been accepted for indexing in Scopus. Open Research Europe is an open access, post-publication peer reviewed platform dedicated to research and scholarship stemming from Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe funding. Open Research Europe was launched by the European Commission. Further information.

6. We Celebrate 10 Years of re3data!

This year, 2022, marks the 10th anniversary of re3data, the Registry of Research Data Repositories. Ten years ago, the registry initially went live and has been hosted at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) ever since. The global index currently lists nearly 3000 digital repositories across all scientific disciplines. re3data provides extensive descriptions of repositories based on a detailed and publicly available metadata schema. More information here.

The KIT Library, Helmholtz Open Science Office, and the School of Library and Information Science of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have collaborated since 2011 on several DFG-funded projects to create re3data. In 2013, the service merged with DataBib, a similar registry that was developed at the Purdue University Libraries in the United States. Since 2015, re3data has been operated in close cooperation with DataCite.

As a new feature, research data repository information is now also searchable in DataCite Commons. This search system is based on the PID Graph and can be used to search for research results, researcher profiles, and organizations. This "Repository Search" feature replaces the Repository Finder tool and brings together metadata from re3data and DataCite in a single location and also graphically displays their links to other entities.

7. Helmholtz Centers Promote FAIR Reuse of Image and Environmental Data

The Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences is participating with 22 other international partners in the EU-funded project Open-Earth-Monitor, which started in July 2022. The aim of the project is to increase the reuse of open environmental data and to develop open source applications for monitoring and modeling environmental data, taking into account the FAIR principles. Among other things, the GFZ is involved in the assessment of user needs and the work on system design.

To improve the findability and reuse of image data from marine research, a team with participation from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon has developed a uniform data standard. The new metadata format “image FAIR Digital Object” (iFDO) implements the FAIR principles for research data management and makes photo and video data findable, accessible, and reusable with different software systems: The findings are documented in the publication “Making marine image data FAIR”.

8. Brandenburg Publishes a Research Data Strategy

The Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg (MWFK) and the Brandenburg State Conference of University Presidents (BLHP) have presented a research data strategy with the aim of establishing institutionalized and sustainable research data management at universities in the state of Brandenburg. With the help of various measures, the strategy is intended to adequately meet the generic, subject-specific, legal, and technical requirements for handling research data in Brandenburg. Representatives of Brandenburg's universities, non-university research institutions, and the Ministry of Science, Research, and Culture participated in the development of the strategy.

9. Metrics on FAIR Data on the Charité Dashboard on Responsible Research

At Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the implementation of the FAIR Data Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) was analyzed in a project funded by the Berlin University Alliance. The results have been integrated into the existing Charité Dashboard on Responsible Research. Accordingly, the dashboard authors estimate Charité to be the first research institution worldwide to comprehensively and transparently present the reusability of its researchers' datasets.

Research data objects shared with articles published in 2020 were analyzed. Using the F-UJI screening tool, metrics and tests were used to calculate a score that maps the percentage of compliance with each FAIR principle per data set. The monitoring of FAIR data metrics in the dashboard is a mere snapshot and does not represent a conclusive assessment of the reusability of Charité research data. The interactive charts are intended to convey knowledge about the FAIR Data Principles and their monitoring and to raise awareness of the requirements of FAIR and thus sustainably reusable data. More information here.

10. France Introduces Central Platform for Research Data

On July 8, 2022, the French Minister of Higher Education and Research, Sylvie Retailleau, inaugurated the new platform Recherche Data Gouv. A central ecosystem for promoting the potential of research data in France, Recherche Data Gouv aims to provide a trusted technical infrastructure for storing, making available, collaboratively reusing, and making visible research data. The platform shall ensure compliance with the FAIR principles for research data while enabling French researchers to retain control over their own research data. The implementation of this project is part of the second French National Plan for Open Science.

11. New Projects Launched to Promote FAIR Data in the EOSC

In June 2022, several new projects funded by the European Commission through its Horizon Europe Framework Programme were launched to foster the widespread implementation and adoption of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles within the framework of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

The project FAIR-IMPACT “Expanding FAIR solutions across EOSC” will build, among other things, on the results arising from FAIRsFAIR and other H2020 projects and initiatives. FAIR-IMPACT will identify practices, policies, tools, and technical specifications to guide researchers, repository managers, research performing organizations, policy makers, and citizen scientists towards a FAIR data management cycle. The focus will be on persistent identifiers (PIDs), metadata, ontologies, metrics, certification, and interoperability. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is involved in this project through the re3data service, the Registry of Research Data Repositories.

The FAIRCORE4EOSC project will deliver nine new EOSC-Core components in support of a FAIR research life cycle, bridging the gaps identified in the EOSC SRIA. More specifically, the components will enable an EOSC PID infrastructure, an EOSC research software infrastructure, support for sharing and access to metadata schemas and crosswalks, and offer advanced research-intent driven discovery services over all EOSC repositories. 

Led by CODATA, with the Research Data Alliance (RDA) as a major partner, the WorldFAIR project will work with a set of case studies to advance the implementation of the FAIR principles, in particular concerning interoperability, and to develop a set of recommendations and a framework for FAIR assessment in a set of disciplines, or cross-disciplinary research areas. The project is a collaboration between 19 partners around the world including research institutions and scholarly organizations from Africa, Australasia, Europe, and North and South America.

12. Spotlights Highlight Research Software in Helmholtz

As part of the Helmholtz Forum Research Software, in which the Open Science Working Group and HIFIS collaborate to promote the sustainable use of research software, a selection of best practice software products in Helmholtz has been compiled. The list of about 100 solutions from all research areas highlights the important role of research software in the scientific knowledge process. Based on this survey, HIFIS is now creating spotlights of particularly relevant software solutions in Helmholtz. The Spotlights can be found online.

Developers can propose Spotlights via merge request through hifis.net's GitLab repository. A readme file (incl. a template) provides guidance. Once the software has been submitted, the HIFIS team reviews the information and manages the release process. Currently, a Helmholtz Software Directory is being implemented in HIFIS, with which the software solutions are recorded and organized. A prototype is already being tested. For questions about Spotlights, the HIFIS team can be reached at support@hifis.net. The Helmholtz Open Science Office has accompanied the process and supported the communication to the Centers.

13. Retrospective: 64th Helmholtz Open Science Online Seminar on OpenAlex

The 64th Helmholtz Open Science Online Seminar took place on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. A Factsheet with the key take-aways is available. In the online seminar, Dr. Heather Piwowar, co-founder of OurResearch, introduced the new open source index OpenAlex. The metadatabase offers a free alternative to subscription-based platforms such as Scopus, Dimensions, or Web of Science and contains over 200 million records on scholarly documents, publication venues, authorship, institutions, and concepts. It draws its content from the decommissioned Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG) records as well as a variety of other sources, including ORCID and Crossref. OpenAlex is developed and maintained by the nonprofit service company OurResearch, based in Vancouver, Canada. More information here.

14. Retrospective: Helmholtz Open Science Forum: Open Science and Transfer

On May 12, 2022, the Helmholtz Open Science Office hosted the Helmholtz Open Science Forum “Open Science and Transfer”. The virtual event was dedicated to different aspects and questions around the interaction of open science, technology transfer, and knowledge transfer in Helmholtz. Together with the speakers and around 140 participants, the event addressed the possibilities for cooperation, the need for action, and future perspectives. A central summary of the presentations and discussions was that there is a consensus within Helmholtz that open science and transfer complement each other well in many respects. A report (German only) documents the event.

15. Retrospective: Workshop on Reproducibility

On June 9 June, 2022, the Helmholtz Open Science Office together with the Helmholtz Information & Data Science Academy (HIDA) hosted the workshop “Enabling reproducibility in data science - learn why it matters and how you can do it”. The slides and accompanying materials are available via the following DOIs and via the event page:

• Open science and reproducibility

• Impulse lecture: Reproducibility in data science and machine learning

• Foundations of research software publication

• Practical steps towards reproducible research

• Scientific metadata: Fundamentals of structured and standardized research data annotation

16. On Our Own Behalf: New Design for Website and Newsletter

Not only the current newsletter shines in the new design, but also the website of the Helmholtz Open Science Office. With the relaunch of os.helmholtz.de the content on our core topics of Open Science at Helmholtz, Open Access, Open Research Data and Open Research Software has now been structured more clearly and is easier to access. Via “News” you will continue to find important news on open science developments and be able to access the “Helmholtz Open Science Professionals” mailing list for members of the Helmholtz Association. In addition, you can subscribe to our Helmholtz Open Science Newsletter even more easily. Information on upcoming and past events, online seminars as well as fora of the Helmholtz Open Science Office can now be found quickly via the “Events” tab. Visit the “About Us” page to get to know the Helmholtz Open Science Office team.

Do you have any comments about our new website and/or the newsletter? If so, we are happy to hear from you via open-science@helmholtz.de.

Recommended Reading

Anderson, G., Heyman, J., & Simmons, M. (2022). How transformative agreements are actually transforming the subscription system: a society publisher’s perspective. Insights, 35, 10. https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.579

Chiarelli, A., Loffreda, L., Cox, E., Johnson, R., Ferguson, C., Vignola-Gagné, E., Campbell, D., & Emecz, A. (2022). From intent to impact: Investigating the effects of open sharing commitments.  https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.6620854

Chue Hong, N. P., Katz, D. S., Barker, M., Lamprecht, A.-L., Martinez, C., Psomopoulos, F. E., Harrow, J., Castro, L. J., Gruenpeter, M., Martinez, P. A., Honeyman, T., Struck, A., Lee, A., Loewe, A., Werkhoven, B. van, Jones, C., Garijo, D., Plomp, E., Genova, F., … WG, R. F. (2022). FAIR Principles for Research Software (FAIR4RS Principles). https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00068

Donaldson, D. R., & Koepke, J. W. (2022). A focus groups study on data sharing and research data management. Scientific Data, 9(1), 345. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01428-w

Ettinger, C. L., Sadanandappa, M. K., Görgülü, K., Coghlan, K. L., Hallenbeck, K. K., & Puebla, I. (2022). A guide to preprinting for early-career researchers. Biology Open, 11(7), bio059310. https://doi.org/10.1242/bio.059310

Gend, T. van, Zuiderwijk, A. (2022). Open research data: A case study into institutional and infrastructural arrangements to stimulate open research data sharing and reuse. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006221101200

Kent, B. A., Holman, C., Amoako, E., Antonietti, A., Azam, J. M., Ballhausen, H., Bediako, Y., Belasen, A. M., Carneiro, C. F. D., Chen, Y.-C., Compeer, E. B., Connor, C. A. C., Crüwell, S., Debat, H., Dorris, E., Ebrahimi, H., Erlich, J. C., Fernández-Chiappe, F., Fischer, F., … Weissgerber, T. L. (2022). Recommendations for empowering early career researchers to improve research culture and practice. PLOS Biology, 20(7), e3001680. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001680

Schoening, T., Durden, J. M., Faber, C., Felden, J., Heger, K., Hoving, H.-J. T., Kiko, R., Köser, K., Krämmer, C., Kwasnitschka, T., Möller, K. O., Nakath, D., Naß, A., Nattkemper, T. W., Purser, A., & Zurowietz, M. (2022). Making marine image data FAIR. Scientific Data, 9(1), 414. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01491-3

Strasser, C., Hertweck, K., Greenberg, J., Taraborelli, D., & Vu, E. (2022). 10 Simple Rules for Funding Scientific Open Source Software. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6611500