In June of this year, the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) approved the institute’s Open Science policy, marking a milestone in its commitment and establishing the framework for managing its practices to guarantee access to research results.
The global Open Science movement, emerging from the scientific community, aligns strongly with IBEC’s Mission, Vision, and values, advocating for collaboration, scientific and social responsibility, and openness. In this context, IBEC’s Open Science policy represents a clear commitment to scientific progress and the dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of society, in line with the institution’s strategic plan where open science is one of its pillars.
With this document, IBEC sets out the mandate to promote open, reproducible, and responsible research practices, to facilitate collaboration, stimulate accessibility, and encourage the reuse of research results. To achieve this, IBEC commits to promoting open access to publications and data, establishing the necessary infrastructure, and providing appropriate training and incentives, aligning the research management departments involved.
The Policy establishes measures related to access to publications, data, infrastructures, citizen science, outreach, scientific education, and research evaluation. A Commission for Open Science is also created to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the institute’s open science strategy.
IBEC is one of the first research centres in Spain to approve a comprehensive Open Science policy, following the recommendations of UNESCO and the European Commission, and recent changes in the legal framework in Spain and Catalonia*.
The importance of this policy lies in several key aspects. Firstly, open science fosters collaboration and knowledge sharing, accelerating scientific progress and enabling the replication and validation of results. By sharing data and methods used peer review is facilitated, fostering trust within the scientific community.
On the other hand, the open science policy ensures that research findings are accessible to a broader audience, including educators, students, journalists, and interested citizens. This promotes scientific outreach and contributes to a more informed and participatory society.
To explain and disseminate advances in Open Science, IBEC has created a dedicated virtual space for this topic. This space provides public access to all documentation and initiatives carried out. It is a platform that allows stakeholders to explore and obtain detailed information about efforts and achievements in this area, thereby promoting transparency and knowledge exchange.
*Law 17/2022, of 5th September, amends Law 14/2011, of 1st June, on Science, Technology, and Innovation, as well as Organic Law 2/2023, of 22nd March, on the University System. In Catalonia, there is also the LLEI 9/2022, of December 21st, on science.
