Bulgaria
Last updated on 
27 April 2020

National Open Access Desk

Peter Stanchev
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Georgi Simeonov
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

  • Overview

    The Bulgarian research community is informed about the benefits of Open Science, Open Data, and Open Access. Some of the main activities in Bulgaria concerning open access include:
    • Maintaining the National Open Access Desks which connect researchers, research institutions, and policymakers at a national level on the one end, and the OpenAIRE project services on the other. The focus of the National Open Access Desks activities supports compliance with the EC Open Access policies;
    • Maintaining the Bulgarian repositories for Open Access;
    • Organizing conferences, workshops and seminars;
    • Developing a policy vision for the development of the Open Access and Open Data, presented to the EC.
    The main project dissemination results include: promote open availability of publications and data and participation in scientific conferences in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is also a part of the ERAC Standing Working Group (SWG) on Open Science and Innovation.

    Support and Landscape

    The major research funder in Bulgaria is the National Science Fund. The Ministry of Education and Science oversees education and research in Bulgaria. The legal framework for founding of higher education institutions is set by the Law of Higher Education. According to Article 9 of this Law, the Parliament (Narodno sabranie) plays the key role in decision making about matters that concern the network of higher education institutions in the country.

    National Initiatives

    The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), the coordinator of research in Bulgaria, establish a network of scientific Open Access centers. Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IMI-BAS) is the coordinator of the Bulgarian network and provide support for academic institutions and researchers.
     
    The yearly National information days "Open access to scientific information", organized by the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences  invites: 1) representatives of national institutions (including the Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Transport, Information Technologies and Communication, Ministry of Culture) responsible for the development of open access policies, 2) representatives of Bulgarian institutions (research institutes and universities) active in the implementation of open access policy and programme.
     
    The national information days cover activities such as:
     
    • Open Science
    • Evaluation in an Open Science context
    • Copyright retention
    • Acknowledge, improve and value the existing European Open Science infrastructure
    • Open Innovation
    • Cross-cutting issues
    The main results of the organized workshops are: The Workshop participants learned the main concepts for the implementation of OA principles and national OA roadmap, key terms, strategies, business models, work plans, copyright and licenses, best practices, examples and policies for open access, open data and open science. The academic staff (young and experienced researchers) and research project managers practiced OA and acquired knowledge and skills how to write, publish and deposit articles, scientific data and materials in OA repositories, OA repositories maintenance, etc. The policy makers and staff working in funding bodies acquired practical skills for writing OA policies, strategies and plans.

  • Open Science Policy

    National Policy

    Government documents regarding open access and open science:

    National Strategy for Development of the Scientific Research


    Recommendation 1. The Ministry of Education and Science shall establish a policy of open access. The national policy of open access should be formulated on the basis of the green model, within which quality is ensured by scientific publications. This should embrace all research institutions which perform and/or disseminate fully or partially state-funded research. Access to the results of state-funded research should be provided to the greatest possible extent.

    Recommendation 2. Scientific institutions and foundations shall also establish policies on open access. All research institutions and public foundations should implement open access policies consistent with the national policy of open access.

    Recommendation 3. Universities and other research institutions shall implement and promote the open access policy. All universities and research institutions should encourage open access policies which are consistent with the national policy of open access.

    Recommendation 4. Exploring the opportunities for coordination between the bibliometric indicator and the open access policies.An investigation should be carried out on to find out whether it is possible to achieve coordination between the bibliometric indicator and open access.

    Recommendation 5. A single joint national database for research has to be established. All state-funded research should be entered in the databases of all research institutions and/or be connected in a joint portal for research.

    Recommendation 6. Exploring the need for a repository for the scientific publications of small research institutions.An investigation of small research institutions’ need of a joint repository should be carried out.

    Recommendation 7. Scientific publishers, research institutions and publishers shall prepare a joint document on the transition to open access.Bulgarian scientific institutions should be encouraged to make suggestions on how to perform the transition of Bulgarian scientific journals to open access.

    Recommendation 8. Informing the scientific community. An information campaign on open access directed to the scientific community should be carried out, in the form of a conference and information materials.

    Recommendation 9. Coordinating the open access initiative with similar international initiatives.Representatives of research councils in international research fora can provide coordination with international policies for open access.

    Recommendation 10. Licenses shall receive consideration. The negotiation of the remuneration of authors within gold open access should be given consideration. Free use of green access and transparency in payment of services should be ensured.

    Recommendation 11. Participation in national fora for cooperation in the field of interoperability and repositories.Bulgaria's participation in central fora for cooperation such as Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) should be guaranteed.

    Recommendation 12. Creating a service for long-term storage of scientific publications. A service for long-term storage should be created, which will ensure that the digital publications can be read and used for a long time.

    Recommendation 13. Planning open access and long-term conservation of the original data. The archiving of data should be planned, so as to ensure present and future access to them.

    Funder policy

    Funding Agencies

    Bulgaria has 1 major funding agency which is listed here:

    Integrated in OpenAIRE

    Bulgaria has no funding agency integrated in OpenAIRE yet.

    National level

    There is no national program for financial support

    for maintaining and developing institutional digital repositories for open access.

    Institutional Policy

    Open Access is more of an individual effort, than the result of institutional support or policy. In general for almost all digital repositories: metadata reuse permitted for not-for-profit purposes and rights vary for the reuse of full data items.

  • Infrastructure & EOSC

    Key networks & Aggregators

    Open Access repositories


    1) Bulgarian OpenAIRE Repository Bulgarian OpenAIRE Repository -http://www.bg-openaire.eu is a centralized cross-institutional repository and provides OpenAIRE compliance and free access to all peer-reviewed publications resulting from ERC funded FP7 projects in Bulgaria.2) New Bulgarian UniversityNBU Scholar Electronic Repository - http://eprints.nbu.bg is the first digital repository of scientific literature in Bulgaria. Faculty members can deposit their papers. Currently there are 565 publications with free online access. The New Bulgarian University encourages faculty members to deposit their research outputs into the repository. 3) Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Repository at IMI-BAS - http://sci-gems.math.bas.bg is based on DSpace software with an active and configured OAI-PMH interface for metadata harvesting. There are more than 2100 publications from journals, conference books and reports. 4) University of Sofia "St. Kliment Ohridski" Research at Sofia University - http://research.uni-sofia.bg There are initiatives at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" to support the development of Open Access. There is a digital repository for the main research outputs of the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics. Other faculties are expected to join soon. 5) Medical University of Sofia (MUS)The Central Medical Library - http://www.medun.acad.bg was established in 1918. Today, it is an independent institution within the structure of the Medical University of Sofia (MUS) and has its 90-year experience in providing information resources and services for education, research, and professional practice. New open access repository started at address http://nt-cmb.medun.acad.bg:8080/jspui/ Repository is in process of building, for content is planned to include summaries of PhD theses, dissertations, electronic books, lectures, journal articles and CML-journal publications. 6) Burgas Free University (BFU)Academic Research Repository at the Burgas Free University - http://www.bfu.bg The research portal of BFU http://research.bfu.bg contains a collection of articles published in the Year-Books of BFU, articles from magazine “Biznes Posoki” and magazine “Contemporary Humanitaristics”, papers from international conferences of BFU, as well as articles, studies, papers and monographs of lecturers from BFU, published in other scientific editions. This site provides access to the research output of the institution. The interface is available in Bulgarian and English. Users may set up RSS feeds to be alerted to new content.

    Open Access publishing

    There are 61 Bulgarian Open Access journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): www.doaj.org

    Open Access Organizations and Groups

    Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IMI-BAS): Peter L. Stanchev, Ph.D., D.Sc., Professor at Software Engineering and Information Systems, e-mail: pstanche [@] kettering.edu and Assist. Prof. Georgi Simeonov at Software Engineering and Information Systems (IMI-BAS) e-mail gsimeonov [@] math.bas.bg Bulgarian Information Consortium (BIC) / Български информационен консорциум with 38 members - 26 universities, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1 agency, 3 National and Centrl libraries, 4 Public libraries, and 3 NGO - Radostina Todorova, New Bulgarian University Library, eIFL-OA country coordinator, rtodorova[@]nbu.bg

    Data repositories

    National publishing initiatives

    N/A

    National agreements with publishers

    N/A

    OA books

    No information available.

  • Training & Support

    DiPP2020 Conference: 24-26 September, 2020

    http://dipp2020.math.bas.bg

    dipp2020

    The Tenth International Conference on Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage - DiPP2020

    Workshop on Open Access to Scientific Publications, Data and Data Science, Bulgarian Open Science Cloud which will primarily focus on the following activities:

    • Open Access indicators
    • Disseminate partners’ best practices
    • Discuss research problems in the field
    • Discuss the possibilities of establishing a network of open-access repositories
    • Contribute to the problems of the harmonization of national legislation and practices
    • Discuss the possibilities of developing training courses for creators and managers of scientific digital repositories to ensure interoperability

    DiPP2019 Conference: 26-28 September, 2019

    http://dipp2019.math.bas.bg

    dipp2019

    Workshop on Open Access to Scientific Publications, Data and Data Science, which will primarily focus on the following activities:

    • Open Access indicators;
    • Disseminate partners’ best practices;
    • Discuss research problems in the field;
    • Discuss the possibilities of establishing a network of open-access repositories;
    • Contribute to the problems of the harmonization of national legislation and practices; and
    • Discuss the possibilities of developing training courses for creators and managers of scientific digital repositories to ensure interoperability.

    DiPP2018 Conference: 27-29 September, 2018

    http://dipp2018.math.bas.bg

    http://dipp2018.math.bas.bg/templates/dipp_default/images/dipp15.jpg

    Workshop on Open Access to Scientific Publications, Data and Data Science, which will primarily focus on the following activities:
    • Open Access indicators;
    • Disseminate partners’ best practices;
    • Discuss research problems in the field;
    • Discuss the possibilities of establishing a network of open-access repositories;
    • Contribute to the problems of the harmonization of national legislation and practices; and
    • Discuss the possibilities of developing training courses for creators and managers of scientific digital repositories to ensure interoperability.
    DiPP2017 Conference: 7-9 September, 2017

     

     

    The Workshop on Open Access to Scientific Publications, Data and Data Science, which will primarily focus on the following activities:
    • Open Access indicators;
    • Disseminate partners’ best practices;
    • Discuss research problems in the field;
    • Discuss the possibilities of establishing a network of open-access repositories;
    • Contribute to the problems of the harmonization of national legislation and practices; and
    • Discuss the possibilities of developing training courses for creators and managers of scientific digital repositories to ensure interoperability.
    There will also Information day "Innovation ecosystems of digital cultural assets", which will present the Research project No. DN02/06/15.12.2016 Concepts and Models for Innovation Ecosystems of Digital Cultural Assets (2016 - 2018).

    DiPP2016 Conference: 26-28 September, 2016

     

     

    The Sixth International Conference on Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage - DiPP2016 is organized under the patronage of UNESCO and with the support of National Scientific Fund. The conference aims at presenting innovative results, research projects and applications in the field of digitisation, documentation, archiving, representation and preservation of global and national tangible and intangible cultural and scientific heritage. The main focus is to provide open access to digitised cultural heritage and to set up sustainable policies for its continuous digital preservation and conservation. The priority area is the digital presentation and preservation of cultural and historical objects under conditions of risk, including those from the Veliko Tarnovo region. The forum will demonstrate innovative technologies and prototypes, including digital repositories, digital archives, virtual museums and digital libraries, which result from established practices and achievements in the field. Representatives of public and specialised libraries, museums, galleries, archives, centres, both national and foreign research institutions and universities are invited to participate and exchange experiences, ideas, knowledge and best practices of the field.Workshop on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Data, with primarily focus on the following activities:

    • Open Access indicators;
    • Disseminate partners’ best practices;
    • Discuss research problems in the field;
    • Discuss the possibilities of establishing a network of open-access repositories;
    • Contribute to the problems of the harmonization of national legislation and practices; and
    • Discuss the possibilities of developing training courses for creators and managers of scientific digital repositories to ensure interoperability.

    DiPP2015 Conference: 28-30 September, 2015

     http://dipp2015.math.bas.bg

     

    The Fifth International Conference on Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage - DiPP2015 (September 28 - 30, 2015, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria) is organized under the UNESCO patronage.DiPP2015 aims at presenting innovative results, research projects and applications in the field of digitisation, documentation, archiving, representation and preservation of global and national tangible and intangible cultural and scientific heritage. The main focus is to provide open access to digitised cultural heritage and to set up sustainable policies for its continuous digital preservation and conservation. The priority area is the digital presentation and preservation of cultural and historical objects under conditions of risk, including those from the Veliko Tarnovo region. The forum will demonstrate innovative technologies and prototypes, including digital repositories, digital archives, virtual museums and digital libraries, which result from established practices and achievements in the field. Representatives of public and specialised libraries, museums, galleries, archives, centres, both national and foreign research institutions and universities are invited to participate and exchange experiences, ideas, knowledge and best practices of the field.Workshop on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Data with primarily focus on the following activities:
    • Open Access indicators;
    • Disseminate partners’ best practices;
    • Discuss research problems in the field;
    • Discuss the possibilities of establishing a network of open-access repositories;
    • Contribute to the problems of the harmonization of national legislation and practices;
    • Discuss the possibilities of developing training courses for creators and managers of scientific digital repositories to ensure interoperability.
    DiPP2014 Conference: 18-21 September, 2014

    http://dipp2014.math.bas.bg

     

     

    The Fourth International Conference on Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage - DiPP2014 aims at presenting innovative results, research projects and applications in the field of digitisation, documentation, archiving, representation and preservation of global and national tangible and intangible cultural and scientific heritage. The main focus is to provide open access to digitised cultural heritage and to set up sustainable policies for its continuous digital preservation and conservation. The priority area is the digital presentation and preservation of cultural and historical objects under conditions of risk, including those from the Veliko Tarnovo region. The forum will demonstrate innovative technologies and prototypes, including digital repositories, digital archives, virtual museums and digital libraries, which result from established practices and achievements in the field. Representatives of public and specialised libraries, museums, galleries, archives, centres, both national and foreign research institutions and universities are invited to participate and exchange experiences, ideas, knowledge and best practices of the field.DiPP2014 (September 18 - 21, 2014, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria) is organized under the UNESCO patronage and supported by the Ministry of Education and Science.


    DiPP2013 Conference: September 18 - 21, 2013

     

     

    The third international conference on Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage - DiPP2013 aims at presenting innovative results, research projects and applications in the field of digitisation, documentation, archiving, representation and preservation of global and national tangible and intangible cultural and scientific heritage. The main focus is to provide open access to digitised cultural heritage and to set up sustainable policies for its continuous digital preservation and conservation. The priority area is the digital presentation and preservation of cultural and historical objects under conditions of risk, including those from the Veliko Tarnovo region. The forum will demonstrate innovative technologies and prototypes, including digital repositories, digital archives, virtual museums and digital libraries, which result from established practices and achievements in the field. Representatives will be invited to participate and exchange experiences, ideas, knowledge and best practices of the field from a number of public and specialised libraries, museums, galleries, archives, centres, both national and foreign research institutions and universities. Special attention will be given to the session "Veliko Tarnovo - a candidate for European capital of culture 2019", which will present the initiative to promote the region on the European and international cultural scene.

    DiPP2012 Conference: September 18 - 21, 2012

     

     

    The International Conference on Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage - DiPP2012 aims at presenting innovations, research projects and applications in the field of digitisation, documentation, archiving, representation and preservation of global and national tangible and intangible cultural and scientific heritage. The main focus is to provide open access to digitised cultural heritage and to set up sustainable policies for its continuous digital preservation and conservation. A priority area is the digital presentation and preservation of cultural and historical objects under conditions of risk, including those under the auspices of UNESCO. The forum will demonstrate innovative technologies and prototypes, including digital repositories, digital archives, virtual museums and digital libraries, which result from established practices and achievements in the field. Representatives will be invited to participate and exchange experiences, ideas, knowledge and best practices of the field from a number of public and specialised libraries, museums, galleries, archives, centres, both national and foreign research institutions and universities.Accompanying Events:- National information day on Open access to scientific information
    - Workshop on the Process of creation and development in Living Labs (Duration: half day; Description: The workshop will present the Living Labs idea, perspectives, and few Living Labs. The workshop participant will touch the Living Lab Requirement: Computer hall and Internet access).
    - Workshop on Astroinformatics and Exhibition (Programme);
    - Tutorial on Computing: Technological Advances, Social Implications, Ethical and Legal Issues presented by Narayan C. Debnath, Ph. D, D. Sc., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Computer Science at the Winona State University; President International Society for Computers and Their Applications (ISCA).
    - Demonstration sessions of digital libraries and repositories preserving national cultural and scientific heritage;

    Discussion forums on
    - issues of the promotion of the free flow of ideas and universal access to cultural and scientific information;
    - issues of digital presentation and preservation of cultural objects under conditions of risk;
    - digitisation and digital preservation in the struggle against illicit trafficking of cultural values.
     
    DiPP2011 the First Conference: September 11 - 14, 2011
     

     

     

    The main aim of the 1st DiPP 2011 Conference is to bring together as many interested institutions/parties as possible working on the digitization, recording, documenting, archiving, presenting, protecting and managing World Cultural and Scientific Heritage in order to share their advanced thoughts, know-how and experience. The main focus is on environments providing open access to digitized heritage. Public and specialized libraries, museums, galleries, archives, community centers, research institutions and universities are expected to gain and exchange knowledge, skills, and expertise from the event. Conference place: Museum of the Bulgarian Revival and Constituent Assembly, Veliko Tarnovo.Several coherently interrelated events will be arranged in the conference days including:
    • National and international projects for digital presentations and preservation of cultural and scientific heritage
    • Expositions and demo presentations of digital repositories, e-archives, e-museums, libraries, etc. in cultural heritage
    • Round table on open access to digitized cultural and scientific heritage
    • "Open Access to Scientific Information" national information day, organized by the OpenAIRE project and the EuDML "European Digital Mathematics Library" project
    • Workshop on Astroinformatics
    • Presentation of a master program in digitization and digital libraries domain, etc.

  • Statistics

    20424 OA publications in 59 repositories

  • News

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