As Pauli Assinen prepares to retire, the OpenAIRE community is saying farewell to a colleague who has been part of its journey for many years.From representing Finland as a National Open Access Desk (NOAD) to contributing to OpenAIRE's governance and development, Pauli has brought a thoughtful, pragmatic and collaborative approach to his work. His colleagues remember not only his expertise and attention to detail, but also his kindness, humour and willingness to support those around him.As he be...

The University of Tartu is taking significant steps to strengthen Open Science and research data management support across all disciplines. Supported by funding from the University of Tartu Development Fund, the University of Tartu Library established in March 2025 a cross-disciplinary Open Science Competence Network and developing a university-wide support system for research data management and Open Science-related questions.The initiative marks a new phase in the university's efforts to embed...

Following the March General Assembly, Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) has joined the OpenAIRE network, further strengthening a community committed to advancing Open Science across Europe.To mark the occasion, we spoke with Maria Constantin, Open Access Officer at EUR and lead of the Diamond Open Access Expertise Centre. In this interview, she shares her perspective on Diamond Open Access, emerging publication models, and the practical realities of making knowledge more accessible.  Can y...

OpenAIRE warmly thanks and sends our well wishes to Biljana Kosanović, long-standing NOAD for Serbia, as she prepares to retire at the end of the month. Over the years, Biljana has played an important role in strengthening Open Science in Serbia and across the wider regional community. Through her expertise, dedication, patience, and generosity, she has supported institutions, colleagues, and partners in advancing shared practices, building connections, and making Open Science more visible and m...

A new milestone has been reached in the development of open educational resources for higher education in France: the open interactive ebook Introduction to Legal Studies (Initiation aux études juridiques) is now freely available online for students, teachers and institutions. The project was developed through a partnership between the Bibliothèque interuniversitaire Cujas, the Institut de recherche juridique de la Sorbonne, Éditions Nouveau Monde and Numérique Premium, with the support of the C...

The French consortium Couperin has long been actively engaged in supporting open science infrastructures, fostering both their development and their uptake by the scientific community. In this context, it has steadily strengthened and diversified its support offer for its member institutions. This momentum is reflected in a significant increase in the number of proposals submitted, rising from two in 2019 to twenty-four in 2025, illustrating both the expansion of the scope of supported...

The EVERSE project was established to transform how Europe's research community approaches software quality. At the two-year mark, its services are now well consolidated, and its strategic priority is ready to transition from implementation to dissemination, enabling researchers to enhance the quality and sustainability of their software through structured, community-driven methodologies. As project coordinator, Fotis Psomopoulos emphasised at EVERSE's second General Assembly at CERN, that this ...

On February 6, 2026, Pro-M Zrt. and the University of Debrecen University and National Library (DEENK) organized the popular online event, the Hungarian Open Science Forum, for the thirteenth time. The two-hour online event attracted 135 participants, and after the presentations, a very informative and thought-provoking Q&A session closed the day. The Forum traditionally covers the most current topics related to open science, and this time was no different. Three outstanding presentations pr...

On 24 November 2025, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the Athena Research Center (ARC) brought together members of the Greek research community for an event dedicated to the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information. Hosted at the Law School Library's Small Amphitheatre, the gathering reaffirmed the growing momentum in Greece toward more transparent, interoperable, and community-driven research information systems. The evening opened with insights from Bianc...

The Slovak Open Science Forum conference was held in the Palffy palace, in the heart of Bratislava, this year. It was organized by Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information under the patronage of UNESCO. The conference was attended by over 70 participants. It hosted speakers from the Czech Republic, Croatia, France, Netherlands and Slovakia. The conference brings the latest information in different areas of open science, including open access to research data, research data managemen...

It was a full house at NORFest 2025 in Dublin, where OpenAIRE, IReL, and the NORF projects co-hosted a hands-on, discussion-driven workshop on the next phase of open research monitoring in Ireland. The session brought together representatives from research performing organisations (RPOs), including librarians and data stewards, and other Open Science practitioners for a lively, interactive exchange on what we measure well, what remains difficult to capture, and how monitoring can bette...

In the era of Open Science, sharing research data has become increasingly common – to a large degree driven by funder requirements but often made possible by services and infrastructure offered by universities and Non-Profit Organizations, such as OpenAIRE. However, while more data are available than ever, finding it remains a challenge. Researchers often face dead ends, vague metadata, and scattered repositories. The FAIR principles —Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable— describe a...

Key Takeaways from the CoARA1–EC–ENRIO-EDI-TUM Conference (Brussels, 2 June 2025) Setting the SceneOn 2 June 2025, stakeholders from across the globe gathered in Brussels and online for the high-level conference "Advancing Responsible Research Assessment for Funders in the European Digital Space. A dialogue on ethics, integrity, and open infrastructure." The event addressed the urgent need to reform research assessment systems in light of rapid digital transformation, artificial intelligenc...

Open science is strongly anchored in Slovenian legislation and in open science policies of some Slovenian institutions, including the rights retention. The Slovenian Rectors' Conference was of the opinion that the Secondary Publication Right (SPR) is also needed in Slovenian legislation. All mechanisms combined, i.e., the APC vouchers from Read & Publish agreements, paying for the APCs, rights retention and SPR, will enable researchers to fully comply with the legal provisions on immediate o...

OpenAIRE's work on promoting Open Science and research integrity was recently featured in the Italian Bioethics Councils quarterly journal "Bioetica - Rivista Interdisciplinare" (Bioethics – Interdisciplinary Journal, Issue 2/2024), one of Italy's leading publications focusing on bioethics and bringing together perspectives on ethical issues in scientific research from multiple scientific sectors. Our article "OpenAIRE's Role in Promoting Open Science," authored by Gina Pavone, Miriam Bagli...

What's at Stake: A Multipolar Open Science Landscape Open Science is playing an increasingly important role in enabling global scientific collaboration. As science policy gains strategic weight in international relations, initiatives like China's International Cooperation in Open Science, launched at the 2024 G20 Summit[1], reflect a growing ambition to contribute to a more inclusive and sovereign global approach to openness. With investments in regional capacity-building, national cloud platfor...

An OpenAIRE report based on NOAD discussion rounds and presentations showcases the variety of training approaches in Europe, addressing challenges and opportunities to overcome fragmentation Earlier this year, the OpenAIRE Training and Support Standing Committee organized three engaging online sessions for NOADs focused on national Open Science skills building. Over these sessions, nine NOADs and an esteemed colleague from Japan discussed their experiences and strategies for training local stake...

Bringing together Bulgarian policymakers and Open Science experts from the OpenAIRE community, the session addressed key pillars of Open Science – policy, training and infrastructure – and offered valuable insights into implementation processes in Belgium, Portugal and Ireland. The webinar kicked off with an introduction to the Open Science ecosystem in Bulgaria by Milena Damyanova, Director of the Science Directorate at the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science. She emphasized that the im...

In December, the Rector of the Azerbaijan Technical University, Prof. Dr Vilayat Valiyev officially announced the establishment of the University's Open Science Office! It should also be noted that the support provided by the Vice-Rector for Science and Innovation, Prof. Dr Subhan Namazov, to the Library Center in this area is undeniable. The OS Office will function within the framework of the university's Library Information Center and enjoy the complete support of the Rector's office...

The Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information organised a Second Slovak Open Science Forum. The conference was held in Bratislava on November 14th, 2024 in Palffy palace. The conference was attented by over 60 participants. It hosted speakers from Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hungary and Slovakia. The conference was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic. The conference brings the latest information in...