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Into the future. SCOSS publishes its strategy for 2022-2024.
 

Over the last several years, SCOSS – a SPARC Europe initiative dedicated to raising funds to sustain Open Science Infrastructures – has successfully supported three pledging rounds helping raise over 3.3 million euros to sustain Open Science Infrastructure. Earlier this year, SCOSS found itself in the position of both looking back at what it has achieved and thinking forward about SCOSS’s future. SCOSS’s team spent the last months working on a strategy for the coming three years. 

The strategy was based on a consultation with the community conducted in summer 2021 through a survey, one-to-one interviews, and focus groups. The community recognized the need for SCOSS’s existence as a source of support for Open Science Infrastructure for many years to come. The consultation also affirmed that the SCOSS model continues to be viable, which is why SCOSS decided to pursue its previous goals, defining three primary goals for the coming three years:

  1. Promoting the sustainability of Open Science Infrastructure through funding and support

  2. Raising global awareness about the value of non-commercial Open Science Infrastructure through advocacy and connection building

  3. Building and maintaining trust in Open Science Infrastructure through vetting and selection

While the goals might sound familiar, SCOSS has several new high-level activities planned. SCOSS will firstly continue to manage the application and decision-making process by supporting the applicants, infrastructures already under its umbrella, and other SCOSS community members. It will also look into making the annual application process even more efficient. SCOSS will also maintain its presence by speaking at conferences and it will encourage dialogue and capacity-building between different stakeholders in various areas such as good governance, open infrastructure, or business models. Whilst primarily engaging with academic libraries, SCOSS is also looking forward to seeking new partnerships from currently under-represented regions and stakeholders such as government and research funders.

The Board presented the strategy and the results of the SCOSS consultation in a webinar prepared jointly with LIBER in November. 
 

In case you missed it, you can watch the recording here 
Download the strategy document here
It's your call! SCOSS publishes the 2022 Expression of Interest call.

Having raised well over 3 million EUR to sustain vital, non-commercial infrastructure and services within the Open Science community; the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) is once again searching for new potential candidate organisations to fund during the 2022 to 2024 SCOSS funding cycle. We welcome applications from across the world: particularly from South America, Asia and Africa although all regions should apply. Applications are due by 28 February 2022. 

In the SCOSS consultation run in summer 2021, the community identified three types of Open Science Infrastructure to prioritise for funding:

1. Open publishing services, tools and platforms
2. FAIR Open Access repository services
3. Open research data infrastructure and services

The SCOSS Board recognizes these types as priorities in this call. At the same time, it remains open to receiving applications coming from other types of services that address other themes. 

Do you know of an essential Open Science Infrastructure that needs funding? If so, please share this EoI call with them.


Read more on how to apply here  
Equity and diversity in Open Access. National and regional publishing platforms. SPARC Europe webinar
 

There is still time to register for the SPARC Europe webinar on national and regional OA publishing platforms; the event will take place on 2 December at 3 PM CET. 

The session will explore the question of community-governed, publicly-funded not-for-profit national and regional OA publishing platforms. 

The webinar brings together voices from Croatia, France, Finland, the Netherlands, and Spain. Experts from these countries will talk us through their initial influences and motivations for establishing national and regional platforms. They will share their perspectives on building and running national and regional OA publishing platforms and speak to how they have evolved over time through presentations.

A panel discussion will touch upon challenges they have encountered and share the lessons they have learned when joining forces and collaborating. We will also ask them about their future plans to increase collaboration be this locally or internationally. There will be a good time for questions from the audience during a Q&A session. 

Attend this webinar and you will learn:

  • About some of the existing community-governed, publicly-funded not-for-profit national and regional OA publishing platforms are already set up in Europe

  • Which opportunities and challenges come with setting up a national or regional OA platform and collaborating with smaller publishers

  • What the best practices for national and regional OA platforms are, as seen by experienced experts in the field
     

Please join us. Register using this link

CoNOSC meets to discuss OS policies in Europe
 

Members of the Council for National Open Science Coordination Council for National Open Science Coordination (CoNOSC) will gather for several hours in early December 2021 to discuss the developments in national Open Science policies in Europe. CoNOSC aims to share information and good practice on OS policymaking between policymakers of the UN-European region. Going forward, it will engage in discussion on common priority areas and co-ordinate Open Science policies across the region where relevant. SPARC Europe is facilitating the meeting.

Representatives of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the UK, will sit together around a virtual table to discuss the high-level developments in OS policies in their respective countries. They will also share what challenges they are encountering and what their plans for the future are. The goal of the meeting is to update policymakers on national OS policy developments and priorities and to identify common priority areas to connect policymakers who might wish to work collaboratively on an international level. 

Hot off the press: SPARC Europe’s report on Open Education in European Libraries of Higher Education.
 

SPARC Europe has just released a long-awaited report Open Education in European Libraries of Higher Education. This report is the 2021 version of the 2020 report under the same title which was the first of its kind.  The 2021 report is framed by the UNESCO Recommendation on OER.

The report, authored by Gema Santos-Hermosa, Vanessa Proudman, and Paola Corti is a result of research conducted earlier this year. The authors analyzed responses to a survey of European libraries of Higher Education on Open Education (OE) and Open Educational Resources (OER). The survey focused particularly on the work being carried out to implement the UNESCO Recommendation on OER and it saw over 230 responses from 28 European countries. 

The report outlines the challenges, opportunities, and needs of European academic libraries in their efforts to implement and accelerate the Open Education roadmap. It points out the pivotal role that they play in advancing Open Education in Europe. 


Read the report here

Past events

European Symposium of SSH journals
During the European Symposium of SSH journals Vanessa Proudman Vanessa gave a presentation on the importance of collaboration between SSH OA diamond journals entitled "Sustaining a more equitable journal publishing system; community action is vital."


TRIPLE Conference
Vanessa Proudman took part in a panel discussion during the TRIPLE conference. The session, entitled "Business & Open Science – contrast or complement?" explored a range of value propositions, business models, and other sustainability questions based on examples from the field. Discussions revolved around essential decisions for startup infrastructures when seeking to contribute to a healthy Open Science ecosystem.


What’s next for SCOSS?
This SCOSS webinar focused on the recently published SCOSS 2022-2024 strategy and a consultation with the research community carried out in summer 2021. It took place on 24 November 2021. SCOSS Board members spoke to SCOSS’s future goals and its vision for the future.

Watch the recording here

Upcoming events

Equity and diversity in Open Access. SPARC Europe webinar
Join us on 2 December from 3-4 PM CET for a webinar on national and regional publishing platforms. You will hear voices from Croatia, Finland, France, the Netherlands, and Spain.

Register here


FORCE 2021
During the upcoming FORCE2021 conference the SPARC Europe’s team will present twice. Vanessa Proudman will speak on the panel "Governance Models of Open Infrastructure: Building Sustainability and Capacity" on 7 December at 18-19 PM UTC.
Agata Morka in her Lightning Talk "Let’s govern together! The Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS): community in action for Open Science" on 9 December at 12-1 PM UTC will talk about the SCOSS’s governance model.

Register here


Fall 2021 CNI meeting
A pre-recorded Project Briefing on the SCOSS 2022-2024 strategy will be presented at the Fall 2021 Coalition for Networked Information virtual meeting, taking place on 7-9 December.

See the conference schedule here

This news brief was compiled and distributed by SPARC Europe staff.
Any questions or comments can be directed to Agata Morka, Communications Officer of SPARC Europe.
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