(Second) National Plan for Open Science

Abstract

The Plan for Open Science mandates that all research publications from publicly funded projects be deposited in open-access repositories and encourages making research data openly accessible. The first National Plan for Open Science was adopted in 2018 and then extended with the Second Plan in 2021 to span until 2024 and beyond.

Researchers are encouraged to follow FAIR principles in managing and sharing research data, fostering the sharing and reuse of data. The plan supports the development of national infrastructure for open science, including the HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne) repository for publications. Researchers are required to deposit their publications in open access repositories, such as the HAL, immediately upon publication, which enables free access by default. This applies especially to research funded by public grants, and researchers are encouraged to make data available by default unless restricted by legal or ethical considerations.

The Second French Open Science Plan primarily adopts a Green Open Access approach by requiring immediate deposition in repositories. While Gold Open Access is supported in part by APC funding, there is a strong preference for using repository-based access and exploring alternatives to high APC fees.

Overview

Country	France
Start date	2021
Annual Budget	n/a
Responsible organisation(s)	Ministry
Target group(s)	Researchers, Higher Education Institutions, Research Funders, Scientific Publishers, Research Libraries and Repositories, Data Managers and Stewards, Public and Society
Policy instrument type	Open Science Policy Document

Background

The Open Science Act predates the Open Science Plan and laid the groundwork for it. Adopted in October 2016 as part of the Digital Republic Act (Law No. 2016-1321), the Open Science Act introduced the legal requirement that publicly funded research publications be made freely available. This act, also known as the Digital Republic Law, includes Article 30, which mandates open access to publicly funded research.

The National Plan evolved through two implementation phases: 1) 2018-2021 (First Phase): Establishing the basic infrastructure, including open-access repositories, and setting up the legal framework. 2)2021-2024 (Second Phase): Expanding access to research data, enhancing FAIR principles in data management, and strengthening infrastructure to support open science practices across more institutions.

Objective(s)

To make all publicly funded research outputs freely available without barriers.

Includes 4 main objectives or themes:

generalising open access to publications;

structuring, sharing and opening up research data;

opening up and promoting source code produced by research;

transforming practices to make open science the default principle.

Public access URL

https://www.ouvrirlascience.fr/second-national-plan-for-open-science-2021-2024/

All tags

• Data governance for trust
• France
• 2021
• Ministry
• Civil society
• Higher education institutes
• Entrepreneurial networks
• National government
• Technology transfer offices
• Junior researchers
• Private R&D
• Research support staff
• Public research institutes
• Students
• Strategies, agendas and plans
• Open access by default

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