The University of Milan has recently joined the growing community of institutions using OpenAIRE MONITOR, a flexible dashboard that provides a comprehensive overview of research outputs, Open Access trends, and impact indicators. To understand the motivations behind this choice and the value it brings to the Italian research landscape, we spoke with Paola Galimberti, Head of the Direction Performance, Quality assurance, Evaluation and Open Science policies, who shared the university’s perspective on monitoring Open Science in practice.
Why OpenAIRE MONITOR
What were the main drivers for the University of Milan to adopt OpenAIRE MONITOR?
The university is a member of COARA and signatory of the Barcelona Declaration. Since 2023, it has been committed to using only open data that can be verified by everyone for monitoring and reporting purposes. We believe that using open data is the best way to report on Open Science activities. It is important for us to collect evidence and share it with the University community and society at large. This is only possible when you use non-proprietary data. It is also important that the data collection does not show bias towards specific parts of the world or certain languages (e.g. English). Ours is a multidisciplinary university that speaks many languages.
What made OpenAIRE MONITOR stand out to the university compared to other tools available?
Interoperability with our research infrastructures is really important and over the years we have tried to improve and enhance it: our institutional repository, our data repository and now our Diamond university press are regularly harvested. OpenAIRE is a European organisation, and this can facilitate the comparison with other institutions, which is important to address the Open Science policies of the university.
From Strategy to Action
How does the adoption of the MONITOR fit into your broader institutional strategies for research and Open Science?
The MONITOR is a source for internal reporting and strategic decision making and gives evidence of our achievements. We have done a lot of work in terms of training and supporting our researchers, and it is important for us to verify and be able to show everyone the effects of these measures.
You are also contributing to the pilot project on dashboards for Diamond Open Access publishers. Can you tell us a little bit about this initiative and what you expect from it?
This is a very interesting initiative for us. We are analysing the dashboards and we think it will be very useful to verify the quality and completeness of our metadata. As always at the beginning of any project, there are some issues to be resolved, but we are confident in our collaboration with the support of OpenAIRE.
Looking at the Italian Landscape
How do you see the current state of Open Science monitoring in Italy?
We have data, we have tools and we have competencies, but there is a lack of political will or interest and, consequently, a lack of coordination in monitoring Open Science dimensions. This is a problem also for Europe and European Open Science monitoring initiatives. There are grassroots initiatives underway at some universities (including ours), but the best thing would be to have a national tool like the one in Ireland.
What would help strengthen this ecosystem at the national level?
It is important to have shared indicators and infrastructures (and most Italian universities and CNR share the same IR), we should develop greater awareness of the importance of collecting the same data in the same way so that we can then present it openly in a comparative manner. This would enable the entire system to grow and improve and to develop informed policies and a stronger link with European initiatives.
Final Thoughts
Produce evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness or need for correction of the policies implemented.
If you had to summarise in one sentence why a university should consider OpenAIRE MONITOR, what would you say?
The experience of the University of Milan shows how Italian institutions are taking important steps towards a more systematic approach to monitoring Open Science. By adopting OpenAIRE MONITOR, they not only improve their capacity to track and report research outputs, but also contribute to shaping a more connected, transparent, and collaborative European research environment.
Interested in OpenAIRE MONITOR for your institution or country? Contact us!
