SPARC Europe embarks on new research project around funders and Open incentives and reward systems

"SPARC Europe is pleased to announce that we are undertaking a new research initiative that will shed light on the various patterns of rewards and incentives being employed by funding organisations as well as those that address openness of the research they fund. Funders are crucial players in the advancement of Open Access and Open Science; their use of rewards and incentives having a huge impact on whether or not research they support is ultimately published via Open journals and other channels — freely available to all. The idea behind this new research undertaking is to support research funding organisations — to inspire them to consider new options of rewards. The project will see SPARC Europe, with the aid of other stakeholders such as Science Europe, reaching out to more than 50 European research funding organisations across Europe with a survey that will seek to gather information about the various types and scopes of reward and incentive systems in place or in-the-works. These will be highlighted in an effort to stimulate and encourage open research practices. Plans are to follow-up the survey with a limited number of interviews to highlight a range of practices. While details are still being determined, results of the research undertaking will be shared with both the funder and Open Access and Open Science communities. The survey is expected to be distributed later this year."