National Open Access Desk

Open Science in Poland is originally a bottom-up movement. However, in recent years awareness of Open Access issues has been rising steadily. In 2008, members of the European University Association – among them 43 Polish higher education institutions and the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland – issued their Recommendations from the EUA Working Group on Open Access, postulating the establishment of institutional repositories networked on the national and European level. In July 2013, the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland have jointly published a statement in support of the Green Road to Open Access, calling for institutional repositories to be established in all scientific units in the country. Finally, in October 2015, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSW) issued a document entitled „Kierunki rozwoju otwartego dostępu do treści naukowych w Polsce” (in Polish only; for a discussion of this document in English see the blog post "Poland: Initial open access policy") which sets specific OA recommendations for all major stakeholders in Poland.

In March 2018, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSW) published a report on the implementation of open access policy („Raport nt. realizacji polityki otwartego dostępu do publikacji naukowych w latach 2015-2017”, in Polish only). The document summarized the efforts that had been undertaken in years 2015-2017, identified barriers to open access and provided recommendations for further work. In 2018, the Polish parliament passed the Law on Higher Education and Science, the so-called Law 2.0. It provided the framework for the reform of the higher education system.

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSW) is responsible for the development and implementation of research policy. The Ministry provides core funding for the statutory activities of various types of research institutions and for large infrastructure investments, and it also supervises the two major governmental funding agencies – the National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki, NCN) and the National Centre for Research and Development (Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju, NCBR).

The Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools (CRASP) in Poland is the representative body of academic schools, which have the right to award the doctor's degree (or equivalent) in at least one scientific discipline. On July 5, 2013 CRASP and Polish Academy of Sciences (Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) issued a joint statement on open access to scientific publications and educational resources. In 2018 CRASP published a statement on the implementation of open science model. CRASP is a member of European University Association, which supports universities in the implementation of Open Science principles.

The Polish Academy of Sciences (Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a national research institution founded in 1952. It conducts advanced research at its scientific units, integrates research community in Poland, supports and promotes various forms of research and educates young scholars. 

State research institutes (see: Main Council of the Research Institutes) are government-run institutions that conduct R&D work in line with the needs of the national economy and social life.

Two major governmental agencies are responsible for the bulk of research funding in Poland.

The National Science Centre (NCN) was launched in 2011 as the main governmental agency supporting basic research in Poland. This is achieved through the funding of research projects in all fields of sciences and humanities as well as doctoral fellowships and post-doctoral internships. NCN belongs to the cOAlition S from its beginning (September, 2018).  In April, 2019 NCN announced plans to introduce open science policy, as well as the requirement for data management plan (DMP) and published guidelines for applicants to complete the DMP form in the proposal. In February 2020 members of the Council expressed their approval for a new open access policy to publications created as a result of research projects funded entirely or in part from NCN resources. The obligation to ensure open access to published research findings will apply to all projects recommended for funding under calls announced on 16 June 2020 (see: Introducing a policy of open access to research project publications).

The National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) was established in July 2007. It is a governmental agency responsible for the funding of applied scientific research programmes and activities. Its main task is the managing and implementation of strategic scientific research that should lead directly to the development of innovations. NCBR also supports the commercialization of scientific research results.

Another important research funder is The Foundation for Polish Science, a non-governmental, non-political, non-profit institution.

More information on the research landscape in Poland can be found on the EURAXESS website.

Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling at the University of Warsaw runs the Open Science Platform, which functions as the National Open Access Desk (NOAD) for Poland and also runs several nationwide online services for Open Science:

• The Library of Science - the largest Polish journal database that provides easy, stable and free access to full-text articles and metadata indexed in disciplinary databases. The service was launched in 2014. Since then almost 340 000 articles from 1043 scientific journals have been gathered.
• CeON Repository - an open-access repository for research output of Polish scholars.
• RepOD Repository for Open Data - online platform designed for open sharing of research data. Its purpose is to serve all researchers in Poland who would like to share their data.
• CeON Agregator - a single access point to Polish open access repositories. Currently it enables access to over 180 000 documents in 21 repositories.
• Open the Book - open books platform with over 500 publications.

The Coalition for Open Education is an alliance of organizations that work actively towards Open Science and Open Education. Along with EBIB Association it coordinates Open Access Week in Poland.

The National Science Centre (NCN) was among 11 national research funding organisations that launched the cOAlition S in 2018.

In April, 2019 NCN announced plans to introduce open science policy, as well as the requirement for data management plan (DMP) and published guidelines for applicants to complete the DMP form in the proposal. See: https://ncn.gov.pl/sites/default/files/pliki/regulaminy/wytyczne_zarzadzanie_danymi_ang.pdf

In February, 2020 members of the Council of the National Science Centre expressed their approval for a new open access policy to publications created as a result of research projects funded entirely or in part from NCN resources. The obligation to ensure open access to published research findings will apply to all projects recommended for funding under calls announced on 16 June 2020. See: https://www.ncn.gov.pl/aktualnosci/2020-02-27-plany-ncn-otwarty-dostep?language=en

In result, Open Access Policy was adopted by Order No 40/2020 of the Director of the National Science Centre of 31 May 2020. As announced on the funder's website: "The Open Access Policy was modelled on the postulates of Plan S and will also be adopted, in a similar form, by other members of cOAlition S. The document enters into force on the day of signing and shall apply to calls announced on 15 June this year and projects based on implementation  agreements signed after 1 January 2021". The document provides information on the publication routes compliant with Plan S, as well as cost eligibility, licensing and copyright protection, and additional provisions. See: https://www.ncn.gov.pl/aktualnosci/2020-06-03-wprowadzenie-polityki-otwartego-dostepu?language=en 

In July 2020 NCN announced that cOAlition S has developed the Rights Retention Strategy. According to the implementation roadmap, NCN will adopt the strategy from 1 January 2021 (early adopter). See: https://www.ncn.gov.pl/aktualnosci/2020-07-15-kolejny-etap-wdrazania-planu-s?language=en, https://www.coalition-s.org/plan-s-funders-implementation/

Open access policies introduced in the years 2015-2019

• Warsaw School of Economics, 22.11.2017 | PL
• University of Gdańsk, 14.12.2017 | PL
• Medical University of Lodz, 22.02.2018 | PL
• Cracow University of Technology, 22.03.2019 | PL
• Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa, 10.10.2019 | PL
• The University of Rzeszów, 28.11.2019 | PL
• Jagiellonian University, 20.12.2019 | PL
• University of Silesia in Katowice, 8.02.2020 | PL
• The Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, 24.02.2020 | PL
• University of Wrocław, 2.04.2020 | PL

Seven medical universities and one scientific institute adopted a joint open access policy of the Polish Medical Platform (Polska Platforma Medyczna, a project financed under the Digital Poland Operational Programme; Action 2.3 Sub-activity 2.3.1, type II: digital availability of science resources):

Joint Open Access Policy | PL

• Medical University of Bialystok
• Wroclaw Medical University
• Medical University of Gdańsk
• Medical University of Silesia
• Medical University of Lublin
• Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin 
• Medical University of Warsaw
• Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine

Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine first adopted its own institutional open access policy (28.12.2016), and later adopted joint policy of the Polish Medical Platform (26.09 2018).

Research institutes:

• Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences | 2.10.2017 | PL ENG 
• Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences | PL 
• Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences | PL ENG
• Central Mining Institute in Katowice, 16.07.2018 | PL
• Institute for Chemical Processing of Coal in Zabrze, 12.09.2018 | PL ENG
• International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw, 14.11.2019 | PL ENG
• Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion | internal policy, link not available
• Scientific and Research Centre for Fire Protection – National Research Institute | internal policy, link not available

Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling (ICM), University of Warsaw introduced open access policy before 2015 (7.10.2014) | PL ENG

Institutions developing open access policies

The following institutions are planning to adopt open access policies (information on websites or received via email):

• University of Warsaw | info 
• West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin | info 
• Warsaw University of Life Sciences
• University of Wrocław
• Military University of Technology, MUT
• University of Opole
• Gdańsk University of Technology
• Wrocław University of Science and Technology
• The Cardinal Wyszyński University in Warsaw
• University of Lodz
• Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences
• Maj Institute of Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
• Kielanowski Institute of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, Polish Academy of Sciences