Parallel Session 12 – Monitoring and Assessment of Open Research II
Date: Friday, 4 July 2025, from 09:00 to 10:30
Moderator: Pedro Principe, University of Minho, Portugal
Location: Room 2064
12.1) Exploring Researcher-Oriented Services on European National Library Websites
Presenters: Dolores Mumelaš and Ivana Matijević, National and University Library in Zagreb, Croatia
National libraries are designed to serve all types of users, including researchers. National libraries are considered a type of research library, as noted by LIBER in the document LIBER Definition of Research Library: Background Paper (2017). To better serve researchers, libraries have focused on improving accessibility by developing websites, portals, and liaison programs while also offering training on resource use (Haines et al. 2010). The usability of a website is its most critical aspect, and national library websites must balance general user-friendliness with meeting the specific needs of different user groups (Pisanski and Žumer, 2005). A few studies have been conducted on the websites of national libraries, examining the services offered, including those aimed at researchers. However, to date, no research has been conducted that examines the thematic content (services, collections, programs etc.) related to the “researcher” category on the websites of national libraries.
This study aims to fill that gap by conducting a qualitative content analysis methodology to review the websites of the 27 national libraries in the EU (EU 27). The research will explore whether dedicated categories or sections for researchers exist on these websites and examine the services, collections, and programs offered within these sections. Additionally, services that are also intended for researchers and are not necessarily classified as such (such as access to scientific databases, digital humanities, etc.) will be explored. The thematic content will be classified into specific groups such as: information and reference services, databases, print collections, digital collections, training and educational resources, science labs etc. Additionally, this study will explore the innovation and originality of these services and how well they align with the evolving needs of the research community. A comprehensive evaluation will be conducted to assess the presence of researcher-specific categories and the types of services offered. Each service and resource will be categorised based on its relevance and usage for researchers, allowing for a comparative analysis of the libraries’ approaches.
The study’s originality lies in its focus on the thematic content specifically targeted at researchers, something that has not been systematically explored across national library websites in Europe. This study is of particular interest to library professionals, researchers, and policymakers interested in improving support for the research community.
The findings of this study could have significant implications for the future development of national library websites. By identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement, the research can help guide the creation of more effective and researcher-friendly online spaces, thereby improving access to scholarly resources and enhancing the research process across Europe. As national libraries continue to evolve their roles in supporting researchers, this study will offer a deeper understanding of the ways in which their digital presence can better serve the research community, fostering further innovation and collaboration in the digital age.
12.2) Beyond Monitoring Compliance: Flemish Open Science KPI’s as Drivers of Cultural Change. A Case Study from Hasselt University (Belgium)
Presenter: Ulrike Kenens, Hasselt University, Belgium
Embracing its civic mission, Hasselt University stands at the intersection of academia and society, acknowledging the responsibility to share knowledge and contribute to the community. Accordingly, innovation and openness are among our university’s core values. Not surprisingly, Open Science and Research Data Management (RDM) have been high on the university’s agenda.
This intrinsic commitment was further reinforced by the establishment of the Flemish Open Science Board (FOSB) early 2020. This governing body brings together relevant stakeholders from academia, research, industry and government with the aim of incentivizing a vibrant Open Science culture in all 36 Flemish knowledge institutions. It operates within the broader European framework (EOSC) and focuses mainly on the advancement of Open and FAIR research data.
Over the past four years, FOSB has mainly operated on three key pillars: infrastructure, policy and people. Concerning policy making, the partners closely collaborated on shaping a shared vision on the future of Open Science in Flanders. By joining forces, we proved ourselves to be innovative and even pioneering by developing a set of five Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to keep track of our progress in Open Science. In particular, these KPI’s assess the maturity level regarding ORCiD, FAIR data, DMP, Open Access, and Open Data. All 36 Flemish research performing organisations collaborated to come to a shared definition of these KPI’s, as well as to agree on a standardized and uniform method for monitoring our performance regarding those KPI’s.
In a recent evaluation of the Flemish Open Science policy (2024), it was observed that the Open Science KPI’s – though being innovatory and connective – also had some major limitations in their effective elaboration. On the one hand, measuring and reporting these KPI’s has been quite demanding and tedious for research administrations in the first years. On the other hand, there are limitations to the range of research output monitored through the KPI’s, so that not all relevant efforts are highlighted effectively.
Nonetheless, at Hasselt University, we grasped the opportunity of these novel KPI’s to bring about cultural change. We strongly belief that Open Science cannot thrive on tools and policy directives alone, but is above all about cultural change, and hence, about people. In particular, the DMP KPI inspired us to implement a new workflow to alert researchers proactively about their obligation to submit a DMP, all while giving more visibility to our support offer. And most recently, the information provided in the DMP is reused for documenting datasets hosted on our brand-new on-premise storage solution.
Our journey is just beginning, and in the future, we plan to harness the catalysing power of the DMP KPI even further, advancing our commitment to implementing robust Open Science and RDM practices. For example, we plan to assess the requirements of CRIS systems to integrate and automate these new workflows more seamlessly, and we intend to explore how the information that is now enclosed within a DMP can be exchanged in a frictionless manner across research tools and systems to reduce administrative burden.
12.3) Implementing the Commitments of the Barcelona Declaration: an Institutional Example
Presenters: Amélie Church and Pascale Pauplin, Sorbonne University, France
A growing proportion of research practices are inspired by the principles of open science. These practices are changing thanks to the support provided by dedicated services within our institutions and the implementation of international strategic initiatives such as the Declaration on Open Research Assessment (DORA) and the reform of research evaluation methods represented by COARA. Despite this progress, certain contradictions remain in our open science practices. Our methods for understanding, analysing and illustrating science as it is done today are still largely based on proprietary data within opaque and expensive applications. We are using proprietary and closed research information in an increasingly open, transparent and shared research landscape.
In the spring of 2024, aware of this problem, a number of organizations signed the Barcelona Declaration, pledging to open up their research information and to use services and systems that enable research information to be opened up. How can we, as an institution, meet these commitments?
Sorbonne University has been pursuing an ambitious open science policy since its creation. It is at the heart of the institution’s strategy, benefits from strong support from its governance and community, and can be seen everywhere research is carried out. In accordance with this policy, Sorbonne University has cancelled the subscription of its proprietary bibliometric database in 2024 and is now using an open database (OpenAlex).
This presentation will focus on the favorable context at SU that underpinned the decision to unsubscribe from WOS and support OpenAlex (a mismatch with the university’s open science policy, bibliometrics to be rethought following a long vacancy in the position, SHS production absent from our observation scope, the international context of the Barcelona Declaration) but it will also highlight the challenges encountered. How did we bring this decision to our research community? And how did it impact our work orientations, internally? How has this paradigm shift also impacted other library services, beyond bibliometrics: user training, publishing, open archive? And more generally, how did it impact internationally our participation in working groups and our support for open science and sustainable identifier organizations?