Miscellaneous scientific news/publications, Cooperation agreements

Open research information – this is what the first supporters of the ”Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information”, including the TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology and University Library, are calling for. They are in favour of a change in the way research information is used and accessed. Research information is metadata about the research activities of scientists, institutions and projects, about conferences, research data and software, scientific monographs and journal articles.

Open research information for more transparency in science

The declaration emphasises the value of publicly accessible research information for the scientific community and for a transparent and fair evaluation of its stakeholders. All too often, decision-making in science is based on research information that is not freely available. This information is closed in platforms of profit-orientated providers and its use and reuse is often very restricted. There is a lack of transparency and reproducibility.
Errors, gaps and biases are difficult to detect and even more difficult to rectify. Decisions about the careers of researchers, the future of research organisations and ultimately how science serves humanity as a whole depend on this research information.

Open research information as a global standard

More than 40 scientific organisations have now committed themselves to making the openness of research information the norm as part of the ”Barcelona Declaration on Open Reseach Information”. Open research information enables decisions on science policy to be made on the basis of transparent evidence and comprehensive data. It enables information used in research evaluations to be accessible and verifiable for those being evaluated. And they enable the global movement for open science to be supported by fully open and transparent information.

Open research information at the TIB

”Openness is a core value for the TIB, and research information is the basis of our work both as a research organisation and as a provider of scientific infrastructure. The general availability of freely usable metadata on scholarly processes, actors and output promotes transparency and visibility for science in society as well as the transfer of innovation and knowledge to the economy. The signing of the Barcelona Declaration is therefore the right and necessary first step towards a global coalition for open research information.”

The commitments of the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information

The signatories of the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information make the following commitments:

1. We will make openness the default for the research information we use and produce.
2. We will work with services and systems that support and enable open research information.
3. We will support the sustainability of infrastructures for open research information.
4. We will support collective action to accelerate the transition to openness of research information.

Read the full text of the Barcelona Declaration https://barcelona-declaration.org/

Supporting the transition to Open Research Information

Collective action is needed to reach the tipping point in the transition from closed to Open Research Information. The first signatories therefore call on all organisations that conduct, fund and evaluate research to support the transition to open research information.
to support the transition to Open Research Information and to sign the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information.

The first supporters of the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information

Universities and other research performing organizations

• Athena Research Center (Greece)
• Charles University (Czech Republic)
• Coimbra Group (international)
• Hamburg University of Technology (Germany)
• I-CERCA – Centres de Recerca de Catalunya (Spain)
• Leiden University (Netherlands)
• Museo Galileo. Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (Italy)
• Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg (Germany)
• Sorbonne Université (France)
• Spanish National Research Council – CSIC (Spain)
• Udice – French Research Universities (France)
• UnilLaSalle (France)
• Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia)
• Università di Bologna (Italy)
• Universitat de Barcelona (Spain)
• Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain)
• Université Grenoble Alpes (France)
• Université Le Havre Normandie (France)
• Université Paris Saclay (France)
• University of Coimbra (Portugal)
• University of Groningen (Netherlands)
• University of Maribor (Slovenia)
• University of Milan (Italy)
• University of Poitiers (France)
• University of the Azores (Portugal)
• University of the Balearic Islands (Spain)
• University of Turku (Finland)
• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Research funding organizations and governments

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (US)
• Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation – FCRI (Spain)
• Dutch Research Council – NWO (Netherlands)
• French National Research Agency – ANR (France)
• French Open Science Committee (France)
• Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras (Spain)
• Région Normandie (France)
• Regione Toscana (Italy)
• ZonMw (Netherlands)

Other organizations

• Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya – CSUC (Spain)
• EOSC Association (international)
• Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia – Ibict (Brazil)
• Latin American Council of Social Sciences - CLACSO (international)
• National Open Research Analytics, Technical University of Denmark (Denmark)
• State Scientific and Technical Library of Ukraine (Ukraine)
• TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology and University Library (Germany)
• UK Reproducibility Network – UKRN (UK)

In addition to the list of signatories above, a number of organizations providing data, services and infrastructure have declared their support of the Declaration. These include AmeliCA Ciencia Abierta, Crossref, Curtin Open Knowledge Initiative – COKI, DataCite, Directory of Open Access Books – DOAB, Directory of Open Access Journals – DOAJ, Europe PMC, Liberate Science GmbH, OAPEN Foundation, OpenAIRE, OpenCitations, OurResearch, Redalyc, Research Organization Registry – ROR.

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About TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology and University Library

The TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology in Hannover is the German national library for all areas of engineering, as well as architecture, chemistry, computer science, mathematics and physics. In its specialist fields, it provides national and international researchers and industry practitioners and – as a University Library – students, researchers and teaching staff from all faculties of Leibniz Universität Hannover as well as interested local citizens with literature and information in both printed and electronic form. The library has outstanding collections of fundamental and highly specialised literature on science and technology. TIB conducts applied research and development to optimise the services it offers.

With its TIB Portal, the library offers a search and order portal for specialist and research information with a focus on science and technology at www.tib.eu. Knowledge objects such as audio-visual media, 3D models and research data are also integrated in the portal. www.tib.eu

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Weitere Informationen:
https://www.tib.eu – More information about the TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology and University Library
https://barcelona-declaration.org/ – To the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information
https://blog.tib.eu/2024/04/16/tib-signs-the-barcelona-declaration-on-open-research-information/ – More in the TIB-Blog