Council of theEuropean Union
Brussels, 25 May 2022
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NOTE
From:

Permanent Representatives Committee (Part 1)To:

Council

Subject:

Conclusions on research assessment and implementation of open science
Approval

1.

The Presidency proposed draft Council conclusions on research assessment andimplementation of open science in order to support the implementation of the European
Research Area (ERA), which had been supplemented by the adoption by the CompetitivenessCouncil, on 26 November 2021, of the Pact for Research and Innovation (R&I) in Europe1
and the conclusions on the future governance of the ERA2.

2.

The Working Party on Research examined the draft conclusions on 31 March, 20 April, and
5 and 19 May 2022 and reached an agreement in principle on the text.

3.

At its meeting on 25 May 2022, the Permanent Representatives Committee confirmed thisagreement (9164/22) and agreed to forward the draft to the Competitiveness Council for
approval at its meeting on 9 and 10 June 2022.

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Council Recommendation (EU) 2021/2122 of 26 November 2021 on a Pact for Researchand Innovation in Europe (OJ L 431, 2.12.2021, p. 1).
14308/21.

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The Competitiveness Council is therefore invited to approve the text of the conclusions, as set
out in the annex, at its meeting on 10 June 2022.

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ENANNEXDRAFT COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS ON RESEARCH ASSESSMENT AND
IMPLEMENTATION OF OPEN SCIENCETHE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
RECALLING–

its conclusions of May 2016 on the transition towards an Open Science system3, which
acknowledged that open science has the potential to increase the quality, impact and benefitsof science and to accelerate advancement of knowledge by making it more reliable, more
efficient and more accurate, better understandable by society and responsive to societal
challenges and encouraged to further develop the assessment of scientific quality;–

its conclusions of December 20204 on the New European Research Area, which highlighted
that Open Science has a crucial role to play in boosting impact, quality, efficiency,transparency and integrity of R&I; which encouraged the Commission, Member States andstakeholders to support and implement Open Science practices in their reward and evaluation
systems for research, researchers and institutions; and which recognised that bibliodiversity,
multilingualism and the acknowledgement of all scientific output are relevant elements of an
ERA policy on Open Science;–

its conclusions of 28 May 2021 on Deepening the European Research Area: Providing
researchers with attractive and sustainable careers and working conditions and making brain
circulation a reality5, which underlined the difficulties of the current reward and assessment
practices, and invited Member States, the Commission, research performing and fundingorganisations to work towards its reform and the need to evolve towards a more qualitative
assessment;

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59526/16.
13567/20.
9138/21.

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–

Council Recommendation (EU) 2021/2122 of 26 November 2021 on a Pact for Research andInnovation in Europe6, which recommends that Member States apply the principle of pursuitof excellence in the research assessment system and reward quality accordingly, and sets out
as an ERA priority area for action supporting and rewarding a true open science culture acrossthe Union;–

its conclusions of 26 November 2021 on the Future governance of the European Research
Area (ERA)7, in particular the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024, which set out a catalogue ofvoluntary ERA actions to contribute to the priority areas defined in the Council
Recommendation on a Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe;

1.

TAKES NOTE of the recommendations made in Commission Recommendation (EU)2018/790 of 25 April 2018 on access to and preservation of scientific information8, theEuropean Commission’s advisory group Open Science Policy Platform’s final report on‘Progress on Open Science: Towards a shared research knowledge system’9, the ERAC
‘Triangle Task Force’ guideline paper on ‘Research evaluation in a context of Open Scienceand gender equality’10, which identifies several recommendations regarding researchevaluation systems, as well as the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science adopted in
November 2021, which recommends a reform of the research assessment system11, and theoutcome of consultation of stakeholders as laid down in the Commission scoping report‘Towards a reform of the research assessment system’12;

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OJ L 431, 2.12.2021, p. 1.
14308/21.
OJ L 134, 31.5.2018, p. 12.
Progress on open science - Publications Office of the EU (europa.eu)
1201/21.
UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science - UNESCO Digital Library
Towards a reform of the research assessment system: scoping report https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/36ebb96c-50c5-11ec-91ac01aa75ed71a1/language-en

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2.

ACKNOWLEDGES that in order to accelerate the implementation and the impact of OpenScience policies and practices across Europe, action has to be taken to move towards a
renewed approach to research assessment, including incentive and reward schemes, to put inplace a European approach in accordance with the Pact for Research and Innovation in
Europe, and strengthen capacities for academic publishing and scholarly communication of all
research outputs, and encourage where appropriate, the use of multilingualism for the purposeof wider communication of European research results;

I. Reform of research assessment systems in Europe

3.

ACKNOWLEDGES that research assessment systems should focus on quality and impact,
and RECALLS that the current research assessment systems are nowadays to a great extent
too focused on the use of some quantitative journal- and publication-based indicators and theevaluation of a narrow range of research outputs; CONSIDERS that such an approach maylead to negative biases in terms of research quality, reproducibility and integrity; STRESSES
that research assessment should include other research outcomes and processes and promote
early knowledge sharing and collaboration to accelerate the implementation of Open Science
policies and practices;

4.

UNDERLINES that, while many research funding and performing organisations, as well as
research assessment authorities, are taking steps to improve the way they assess research andresearchers, change remains slow, uneven and fragmented across Europe, and therefore
REITERATES the need to advance in a concerted effort towards reforming the various
research assessment systems and practices for research, researchers, research teams andinstitutions to improve their quality, openness, performance and impact; furthermore,
EMPHASIZES that applying Open Science principles should be appropriately rewarded inresearchers’ careers;

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STRESSES that such a joint approach must be designed in an inclusive and collective way,since many actors at different levels are concerned, and HIGHLIGHTS that a European
initiative may facilitate the coordination of changes to research assessment systems, taking
into account national specificities and the characteristics of different research disciplines;

6.

STRESSES that the transformation of research assessment systems should encompass theassessment of individual researchers, of research teams, research organisations and higher
education institutions, of research infrastructures, of research outputs and projects, and that it
is important to avoid contradictions between different assessment layers;

7.

CONSIDERING the fact that the peer-reviewing principle of research assessment plays animportant role for reliable and excellent science, and that researchers are themselves acting as
reviewers and evaluators in many settings; UNDERLINES that researchers themselves should
be at the core of this evolution, since it is of utmost importance that they support andimplement the improved principles for research assessment and that they receive appropriate
training for this task, in order to ensure broad adoption of the changes by the scientificcommunity; in this respect, BELIEVES that researchers of all career stages should take anactive role in the renewed approach to research assessment and in applying Open Science
principles and practices;8.

SUGGESTS that the evolution of the research assessment systems in Europe should be guided
by the following principles, while respecting the autonomy of research institutions and thefreedom of scientific research, as well as the diversity of national and disciplinary contexts,
and taking into account their consistency with international initiatives:a.

moving to a more balanced approach between the quantitative and the qualitativeevaluation of research, by strengthening the qualitative research assessment indicators
while developing the responsible use of quantitative indicators;

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b.

recognising all forms of research and innovation output and processes, including interalia, datasets, software, codes, methodologies, protocols and patents, and not only
publications; STRESSES that data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable, in line with the FAIR principles;c.

taking into consideration diverse career pathways and all research and innovation
activities, including mentoring, leadership roles, entrepreneurship, data management,teaching, knowledge valorisation, industry-academia cooperation, support for evidenceinformed policy making, interaction with society, including citizen science and public
engagement;d.

taking into consideration the specificities of the various research disciplines, the range
from basic to applied research, the stages of research careers and the missions ofresearch institutions;e.

ensuring that ethics and integrity are accorded the highest priority and are notcompromised by counter-incentives;f.
9.

ensuring diversity, gender equality, and actively promoting women in science;

WELCOMES the European initiative which has launched a dialogue with stakeholders at
European level in order to collect views on research assessment systems, and which aims tofacilitate the establishment of a broad coalition of stakeholders willing to develop andimplement changes, on a voluntary basis, through an agreement to foster concrete actions toreform research assessment systems;

10.

TAKES NOTE OF the ‘Paris call on research assessment’ published on the occasion of theOpen Science European Conference in February 202213, which invites all stakeholders to
become involved in the coalition;

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Paris Call – OSEC 2022

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11.

ENCOURAGES Member States to promote the reform of the research assessment system atnational and regional level, in close collaboration with researchers, while respecting theautonomy of research organisations, on the basis of the above-mentioned principles;

12.

INVITES Member States to encourage research funding organisations and assessment
authorities, universities and other relevant higher education institutions, research andtechnology performing organisations, as well as institutions which carry out assessment tasks,
to join the European initiative and to promote appropriate guidance and support at national
level;

13.

RECOGNISES the need to ensure the sharing of best practices at European and national levelin order to implement changes to the research assessment systems, and INVITES theCommission, together with the Member States, to carry out an analysis of legal andadministrative barriers at EU, national and transnational level for a renewed researchassessment system, to propose actions for removing identified barriers and to support theexchange of practices and mutual learning at European level;

14.

INVITES the Member States, the Commission and stakeholders to promote independence,
openness, reproducibility and transparency of the data and criteria necessary for researchassessment and for determining research impacts; CONSIDERS that data and bibliographic
databases used for research assessment should, in principle, be openly accessible and thattools and technical systems should enable transparency;

15.

CONSIDERS that European Universities alliances and other relevant stakeholders could serve
as a testbed for the transformation of research assessment systems; ENCOURAGES them tolaunch pilot projects to establish assessment procedures in line with the above-mentioned
principles on a voluntary basis; INVITES the Commission and the Member States to promote
framework conditions supporting relevant stakeholders, including European Universities
alliances, to this end;

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STRESSES that the transformation of research assessment systems is a key component of theattractiveness of research careers and INVITES the Commission and the Member States toinclude research assessment principles in the development of the European Framework forresearch careers, the revision of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of
Conduct for the recruitment of researchers, as well as the future establishment of the ERA
Talent Platform;

II. European approach and capacities for academic publishing and scholarly
communication

17.

UNDERLINES that it is in the interest of European citizens and the European economy toensure a transparent and competitive market that enables private companies, including small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as publicly funded organisations such asuniversities, research organisations and learned societies, to contribute to, and benefit from, ashared research knowledge system; INVITES the Commission to work on improving a
regulatory framework so that it enables unimpeded access to and reuse of publicly-funded
research results, publications and data for research purposes and minimises administrative
burden on research infrastructures and services;

18.

UNDERLINES that the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the benefits of Open Science and of
immediate open access to research publications, enabling quicker ways of vetting the quality
thereof, and of further expanding open access modalities, which has been key to developing
rapid responses to the crisis by permitting quick access to new research results to combat thedisease; RECOGNISES that the crisis has also highlighted the benefits of increased access toresearch data based on the FAIR principles;

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19.

NOTES with concern the financial burden on research institutions and Member States’
budgets arising from the increasing volume of expenditure for access to scientific publications
and for open access publishing and TAKES NOTE in this context of strategies which aim tocontain expenditures, such as the actions taken on this issue by Coalition S or Open APC, andwhich aim to ensure transparency as well as fair and equal conditions in contracts withpublishers;

20.

UNDERLINES that it is key for the Union and its Members States to establish a common
approach in terms of shared principles for academic publishing and scholarly communication,
since this is an issue of knowledge development and dissemination, sovereignty and properuse of public funds, and that the Union and Member States need to develop their capacities foracademic publishing in proper coordination with all existing and future public and private
stakeholders in this field, while paying attention to the specific challenges of each scientificdiscipline, including the humanities and social sciences;

21.

WELCOMES the setting up of Open Research Europe, the open access publishing platform
established by the Commission, as well as similar platforms and open access university
presses established by both public and private research funders within the European Union
and beyond, as well as dedicated research infrastructures such as OpenAIRE (Open Access
Infrastructure for Research in Europe) and OPERAS (Open scholarly communication in theEuropean Research Area for social sciences and humanities); INVITES Members States andresearch funding organisations to consider joining the Open Research Europe initiative inorder to improve its quality and attractiveness or, if this is not possible, to consider setting up
their own open access publishing platforms, if necessary;

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UNDERLINES that the diversity of business models for open access journals and platforms
should be encouraged; CONSIDERS that the authors of research publications or their
institutions should retain sufficient intellectual property rights to ensure open access, leading
to broader dissemination, valorisation and reuse of results improving the fair balance of the
publishing business models; STRESSES that subscription fees as well as open accesspublication fees when applied, should be transparent and commensurate with the publication
services; CONSIDERS that the publication of any research output should be based on theassessment of its quality, and that any potential bias, inter alia due to expenditure capacities,at researcher or organizational level should be tackled, and INVITES the Commission to workon that;23.

ASKS the Commission to monitor, together with Member States, the development anddiversity of scientific publishing in Europe and the practices and costs of scholarly
publications, including the transparency of billing costs, taking stock of and sharing existing
best procedures developed at national level, and, wherever possible, disclosing thefindings, and to this end ENCOURAGES Member States or, where appropriate, researchorganisations, in cooperation with the Commission, to take concrete measures against the
proliferation of insufficiently transparent contractual arrangements in their interactions withpublishers;

24.

CONSIDERS that some Open Science practices such as open peer-review and early
publication of preprints are very promising but challenging, and should be further promoted
within a coherent framework and be based on rigorous integrity principles and practices, as
they allow quicker dissemination of research results and quicker ways of vetting the quality
thereof;25.

NOTES in this respect the need to increase the reproducibility of research results since thiscontributes to higher quality, a more efficient research processes, more trustworthy results,
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TAKES NOTE of the ERAC recommendations14 related to Open Science and integrity,
including the issue of preprint practices, and INVITES Member States to support researchorganisations in developing coherent guidelines on this issue;

III. Development of multilingualism for European scholarly publications

27.

EMPHASISES that one of the main goals of Open Science is to increase the disseminationand impact of scientific research results; NOTES that English has become the lingua franca
for international scientific cross-border collaboration and for communication in many
scientific communities; CONSIDERS that reaching non-academic audiences may require
dedicated publishing formats, written in less technical language, and ACKNOWLEDGES theimportant role of multilingualism in the context of science communication with society, inparticular on the national and regional levels; in this respect, WELCOMES initiatives topromote multilingualism, such as the Helsinki initiative on multilingualism in scholarly
communication15;

28.

NOTES that in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the necessity of having access to new andreliable research results was key, and that access to this new knowledge in different European
languages can contribute to enhancing the dissemination of research results in the media, as
well as among public and private organisations, public and private professionals, and citizens;

29.

AGREES that the voluntary dissemination of scholarly publications in more than one
language should not be in the remit of the responsibility of individual researchers nor be incontradiction with researchers’ customs and traditions, nor with the need to publish in specificlanguages depending on the disciplines;

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1207/21.
Helsinki Initiative on Multilingualism in Scholarly Communication, 2019 doi.org/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.7887059

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30.

WELCOMES the promising developments that have recently emerged in the area of
automatic translation thanks to the progress of artificial intelligence and CONSIDERS that thesemi-automatic translation of scholarly publications within Europe may have major potential
in terms of market creation for this new technology and is also an important issue ofsovereignty;

31.

INVITES the Commission and the Member States to experiment with multilingualism, on a
voluntary basis;

32.

CALLS ON the Commission to inform the Council on the progress made on the three sectionsof these conclusions by the end of 2023, in order to assess the need for further action if
necessary.

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