Open Knowledge Action Plan

With this action plan, the Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) sets the framework for initiating a transition towards becoming an open university by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. The plan also encourages reflection and discussion within the UOC university community on the roadmap to achieve this goal, as well as the monitoring and follow-up of the actions needed to reach the objectives.

The Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) is the institution responsible for this action plan, which is aligned with both its current strategic plan (2017–2020) and its forthcoming strategic plan currently in development. The Open Knowledge Action Plan includes an Institutional Open Knowledge Policy.

The Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) outlines in this Action Plan six main pillars and three cross-cutting axes, with the following objectives for 2030:

• Open Publications: UOC’s scientific publications should be open by default, including scientific articles, theses, books, book chapters, and other scholarly outputs. To this end, the open access policy has been updated, and a new Institutional Open Knowledge Policy has been published. The goal is to ensure the commitment to deposit all scientific articles in the institutional repository O2 in the version allowed by the editorial policies of the journals, with support from the Library. The UOC also aims to maintain its commitment to open access for the scientific journals it publishes.
• FAIR Data: All research data generated at UOC should follow the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable), establishing the necessary institutional framework for research data management, and promoting both the deposit and recognition of open data publications. At the same time, the plan aims to develop transversal RDM support services for researchers and contribute to increasing awareness about FAIR data within the academic community.
• Open Learning: Promote the use and creation of open educational resources, pursuing an open model that allows for copyright exceptions. The plan will identify which knowledge generated at UOC best aligns with its knowledge transfer strategy, prioritizing its openness, collaborating with other countries committed to high-quality online education, and expanding the international reach of MOOCs and other collaborative and co-creative learning tools. A key element will be to enhance and position internationally the Niu, UOC’s dedicated aggregator for learning resources.
• Open Innovation: Connect UOC with its academic community, with the world, and with all disciplines, guiding the university toward collaborative solutions for society’s challenges and transforming it into an open innovation community. In 2015, UOC launched Hubbik, its open innovation and entrepreneurship support platform, to foster open innovation in addressing knowledge society challenges such as digital health (e.g., Codesign Competition and CO3 for healthy aging, or Open e-Health Parkinson to improve the quality of life of Parkinson’s patients) and online learning.
• Open to Society: Transform UOC into a porous university that is closely linked to society, generating knowledge with high social impact, highlighting and making visible existing initiatives, creating spaces for knowledge co-creation for the common good, and establishing an internal framework to recognize such practices. Among other actions, the university aims to coordinate its societal engagement and develop a framework for education and science outreach activities from and for society.
• Research Evaluation Models: Shift scientific evaluation toward a more qualitative model focused on ongoing learning and transformation, across all areas of science assessment (from research outputs and projects to researcher careers, research group evaluation, and the institution as a whole). This will be achieved by incorporating the principles of this action plan into research planning and evaluation, and by fostering debate and training on new impact and research transfer assessment models. Open Science and RRI (Responsible Research and Innovation) topics will also be included. In this regard, to support changes in research evaluation, UOC signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) in 2019.

As for the cross-cutting axes, they are:

• Training, Communication, and Awareness: Train and raise awareness among all UOC community members, give visibility and voice to existing initiatives within UOC that can serve as examples, and revise communication strategies—especially those related to research—to align with the goals and proposals of this action plan.
• Open Infrastructures: Ensure the availability, performance, interoperability, and maintenance of the necessary technological infrastructures to implement the Plan. This includes promoting the use of open platforms as spaces for open knowledge and supporting open management practices, including the promotion of free and open-source software.
• Participation in Key Arenas: Strengthen international engagement by influencing public policies in higher education, research, and innovation, and by actively participating in local, national, and international forums to contribute to the paradigm shift toward open knowledge.

As beneficiaries, the first to be mentioned is the academic community, which will gain access to open knowledge as a whole. Secondly, society will also benefit—on the one hand, by gaining access to academic and scientific knowledge, and on the other, by participating in the very generation of that knowledge, becoming a co-creator in the process.

The Open Knowledge Action Plan involves the entire UOC community: from the management areas related to research support to the faculties, research centers, and the Doctoral School (that is, the academic and research community as well).

As a direct consequence of the implementation of this Open Knowledge Action Plan, the UOC Institutional Open Knowledge Policy was approved in April 2021. Its purpose is to establish an institutional framework that enables the UOC to openly share and transfer the knowledge it generates through its research, innovation, teaching, or institutional management activities across the university’s different thematic areas.

This policy is grounded in the broader vision of opening up the university, co-creating and sharing knowledge to become a node of open and global knowledge that contributes to solving the global challenges identified in the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

The policy, which applies to the entire UOC university community and network, covers academic publications (articles, books, book chapters or parts), doctoral theses, research data, other research outputs (reports, memos, conference papers, etc.), teaching resources, learning publications, and institutional documentation.

For each of these outputs, a specific action framework is defined, which includes: the scope, the responsible individuals or groups, the corresponding Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), the concrete actions to be carried out, and the applicable regulations in each case.

Another consequence of implementing the Open Knowledge Action Plan is the signing of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), aimed at promoting changes in how research is evaluated.

Also worth highlighting, as a result of analyzing and assessing the outcomes of UOC’s research and innovation activity, is the increase in open access articles and other knowledge outputs available through the O2 UOC Repository (the institutional repository).

Another direct result of the plan’s implementation is UOC’s participation in promoting activities during the International Open Access Week (OA Week). One such example is the launch of the Open Access and Open Science micro-MOOC. Regarding research evaluation, it is noteworthy that UOC was selected by SPARC Europe, EUA, and DORA as a case study for redefining research assessment globally. In addition, evaluation criteria for some of the university’s internal calls have been updated to align with DORA principles.

To assess the impact of the Action Plan, the following monitoring measures are planned:

• Biannual meetings (April and October) of those responsible for assessing the progress of the various thematic axes.
• Periodic reports on compliance with the open access policy and other objectives outlined in the plan.
• Presentation of results and key milestones twice a year (June and December).
• Annual report submitted to the Executive Board and the University Council.
• Annual publication of results and milestones achieved, openly available to the entire UOC community (January).

The limitations or challenges in the implementation of this Action Plan relate primarily to the cultural shift required, as well as the need to gradually increase the number of people involved throughout the Plan’s rollout. Among other actions, a comprehensive training plan is expected to be published and implemented for the entire university community, with the goal of facilitating and promoting this cultural change.

Among the concerns raised is the low percentage of open access publications deposited in the institutional repository O2, in relation to the total number of publications available. The editorial policies and the default application of copyright restrictions to teaching materials are identified as the main obstacles to publishing certain resources openly. Thanks to targeted campaigns and specific actions, the launch of this plan has accelerated the open publication of research results and other open knowledge outputs in the O2 UOC Repository.

Another key challenge lies in the area of research data. The UOC has made progress by creating and launching a researcher support service and by participating in the consortium repository “CORA. Repositori de Dades de Recerca”. The main current challenge in this area is to increase training within the academic community and to improve the specialization of staff who support academic teams.

Evaluation processes also present a challenge, as they are often geared toward quantitative metrics, heavily reliant on journal impact factors and the volume of funding secured. This limitation is compounded by the restricted room for maneuver the UOC has in relation to external evaluation systems, which are currently overseen by national assessment agencies. However, the university considers its internal scope of action to be sufficient for introducing changes toward an evaluation system that encourages practices aligned with open science. The signing of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) is one of the key actions aimed at overcoming this challenge.

Although much of the knowledge produced within the UOC as a result of academic and research activity is already accessible through various dissemination tools provided by the university (such as the O2 institutional repository), it is expected that the implementation of the recently published Open Knowledge Policy will produce immediate effects, some of which may only become measurable and visible over time.

The scope of both the Action Plan and the Open Knowledge Policy may go beyond the UOC, serving as examples of good practice and models for other universities—not only within Spain, but also at the international level. This is particularly relevant given their alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda and the various open science initiatives emerging across Europe, such as Plan S.

• Open Knowledge Action Plan: https://openaccess.uoc.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/db1198c5-297d-466c-9394-5175ef6fb2ec/content
• UOC Institutional Open Knowledge Policy: https://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/coneixement-obert/politica-institucional/index.html
• Portal for consulting the UOC’s scientific output: https://recerca.uoc.edu/resultados/publicaciones?lang=en
• Knowledge transfer: https://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/guia-divulgacio-coneixement/serveis/transferencia-coneixement/index.html
• Open knowledge: https://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/coneixement-obert/index.html