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Unboxing Open Scholarship

Defining Open Scholarship

Open Scholarship is the practice of research, education and knowledge exchange in such a way that others can collaborate and contribute, where research publications, data, lab notes and other scholarly processes and works are properly and ethically managed and evaluated and, unless restricted for justifiable reasons, are freely available to all levels of society under terms that enable reuse, redistribution and reproduction of the work and its underlying data and methods.
Open Scholarship may also be referred to as Open Science or Open Research.

(Adapted from Foster’s Open Science definition)

Image: https://www.fosteropenscience.eu/content/what-open-science-introduction

Trinity Task Force on Open Scholarship

The Trinity Task Force on Open Scholarship was created by the Librarian & College Archivist and the Dean of Research with colleagues across the University. One of the first tasks is to define what is meant by Open Scholarship – is it Open Science, (in the broadest sense, incorporating all disciplines), Open Access or Citizen Science? – and work through where Trinity wants to be in this landscape, what is or will be mandatory, where to lead, where to actively follow, how best to support and help researchers etc.

There is much activity in this area. Internationally, Plan S is aimed at ‘accelerating the transition to full and immediate Open Access of Scientific Publications’. Nationally, NORF (National Open Research Forum) led by the Higher Education Authority and the Health Research Board is working towards a ‘National Statement on the Transition to an Open Research Environment’. From a European perspective, LERU (League of European Research Universities) is creating a pragmatic ‘Roadmap to Open Science’.

As part of collectively figuring this out, a series of events under the theme of ‘Unboxing Open Scholarship’ will take place over the coming months. The first will be an interactive event open to all members of the Trinity community and will take place at 12 noon, 8 February in the Trinity Long Room Hub.

Please contact us at openscholarship@tcd.ie with your views and suggestions for future events.