IReL and OpenAIRE have announced the completion of a comprehensive assessment of Ireland’s National Open Access Monitor using the OSMI Principles of Open Science Self-Assessment, marking a milestone in advancing transparent, responsible, and high-quality open science practices.
The National Open Access Monitor, launched to track and report on the open accessibility of Irish research outputs, was reviewed against internationally recognized standards for openness, governance, technical robustness, and community value. The OSMI Principles provided a structured framework for examining the Monitor’s policies, workflows, and outcomes.
The assessment highlighted several strengths of the National Open Access Monitor, including:
• Transparency and Accountability: Clear documentation of methodology, data sources, and indicators, ensuring trustworthiness and reproducibility.
• Community Engagement: Ongoing collaboration with Irish research institutions, libraries, and national stakeholders to refine metrics and ensure national relevance.
• Technical Openness: Use of open standards, interoperable workflows, and FAIR-aligned approaches that support data sharing and reuse.
• Alignment with European Best Practice: Strong compatibility with OpenAIRE’s metadata guidelines and European open science monitoring initiatives.
The review also identified opportunities for future development, including expanding the scope of monitored outputs, enhancing multilingual accessibility, and strengthening support for institutional reporting.
OpenAIRE noted that the OSMI Principles represent a global benchmark for open science monitoring and stated that Ireland’s National Open Access Monitor has been assessed positively against them. It added that this reflects the type of national commitment outlined in the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science and confirmed continued collaboration with IReL.
IReL and OpenAIRE will continue working on refining the Monitor’s indicators, expanding support for research-performing organisations, strengthening interoperability with European open science infrastructures, and ensuring alignment with evolving open science policies and values.
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