In February 2020, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) released a new proposed open access policy for consultation to replace the RCUK Policy on Open Access released in 2018. The goals of the proposed policy include promoting open access (OA) and new OA publishing models and aligning OA polices across the UKRI, which comprises the UK’s seven Research Councils, Innovate UK, and Research England (UKRI 2020).
As reported in “How the 2018 Federal Budget Impacts Research in Canada,” the Government of Canada’s 2018 federal budget included $572.5 million to fund a Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) Strategy. This DRI Strategy supports data management, research software, advanced research computing (ARC), and other digital research infrastructure in Canada.
In May 2018, the Government of Canada released a draft Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy for Consultation (RDM Policy). The draft policy is part of a Tri-Agency strategy for encouraging and supporting research data management (RDM), which also includes the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications (2015) and the Tri-Agency Statement of Principles on Digital Data Management (2016).
The Sorbonne Declaration on Research Data Rights is a statement from members of the international research community committing to practicing and promoting open data sharing. It calls on governments and research funding organizations across the world to develop the legal frameworks and institutional reward structures necessary for the responsible sharing of research data.
Every day, Canadian researchers are coming up with new ideas with the potential to tackle some of the biggest challenges we face today. By freely sharing and collaborating on these innovations, we can ensure a dynamic and transparent research community. The Government of Canada can now bolster its efforts in making federal science open and accessible to all thanks to the Roadmap for Open Science — a set of ten recommendations delivered by Canada’s Chief Science Advisor, Dr. Mona Nemer.
In April 2019, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) published their White Paper on Wikidata: Opportunities and Recommendations. This white paper shares the findings of the ARL’s Task Force on Wikimedia and Linked Open Data, which was established in 2018 to investigate the potential of using Wikidata as a repository for libraries’ linked open data and to explore how libraries can use Wikidata to improve discoverability and community engagement.