Open science to be transformed

The University and National Library of the University of Debrecen (DEENK) also supports the reform of research evaluation in the transformation of open science, i.e. the system and value system of research. To this end, it was said at the seventh Open Science Forum that DEENK supports the dialogue within the institution and plays a change management role.

At the online forum on Wednesday organized by the University and National Library of the University of Debrecen (DEENK) and the Government Information Technology Development Agency (KIFÜ), experts from the participating institutions discussed the reform of research performance measurements. Representatives of the University of Debrecen, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the National Rabbinical School, the Eötvös Loránd Research Network, the Hungarian Rectors' Conference, and Eötvös Loránd University, which support the initiative called Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), an organization o to advocate the renewal of research assessment, presented their ideas.


As stated, the initiative can change the evaluation practices of research, researchers and organizations conducting research, to make sure that higher quality and more impactful scientific results will be produced than before.

At Wednesday's professional forum, speaking about the new direction and reforms closely related to open science, and the possibilities inherent in this, Gyöngyi Karácsony, director general of the University and National Library of the University of Debrecen, emphasized: UD's joining of CoARA was justified by the institution's interdisciplinary nature, and the diversity of its research communities.

- In addition to university level, our library also plays a major role at the national level; we have been monitoring scientific changes for decades, and we are building definite and specific services to support them. We are constantly developing our infrastructure; try to be proactive and forward-thinking. To this end, we have developed the 21st century research life cycle model, which is based on planning - implementation - publication - publication management. In each cycle, we offer support services that can contribute to the creation, sharing and accessibility of results, added the Director General.

Ákos Lencés, data manager of the Governmental Information Technology Development Agency, says that research evaluation is unavoidable in modern scientific activities and an ever increasing number of people are supporting the renewal of research work.

- We invited the institutions that signed the reform initiative to attend the forum. It is useless to talk about open science in any aspect unless it is supported by extensive, up-to-date research evaluation. Currently, researchers, research institutions, and research work are being evaluated primarily on the basis of the number of publications and the indicators of journals. According to the new direction, progress in scientific activity can be made annually based on a specific control mechanism, the data manager added.

For two decades the University and National Library of the University of Debrecen has played a major role in disseminating the concept of open science since it makes research more transparent and accessible, simultaneously offering opportunities for professional collaboration, and the free use, recycling, and dissemination of research data, laboratory reports,  and other information generated in the research process.

Press Center – BZ