UK Research and Development Roadmap - GOV.UK

"Research has rapidly improved our understanding of COVID-19. Supported by rapid action by funding bodies, scientists around the world have directed their efforts to this global priority, working collaboratively across countries and disciplines, and sharing findings openly and quickly. Rapid targeted funding has enabled researchers and policy makers to join up to clarify and tackle pressing questions and has enabled businesses to collaborate in new ways to address national needs. For example, the COVID-19 Genomics UK consortium has achieved rapid sequencing of over 50% of all the SARS-CoV-2 genomes in the world. The UK has led the world’s largest randomised control trial for COVID-19, with findings helping the sickest patients not only in the UK but all around the world. We should aspire to this level of openness, connectivity and pace across our whole R&D system....

Crucially, we must embrace the potential of open research practices. First, we will require that research outputs funded by the UK government are freely available to the taxpayer who funds research. Such open publication will also ensure that UK research is cited and built on all over the world. We will mandate open publication and strongly incentivise open data sharing where appropriate, so that reproducibility is enabled, and knowledge is shared and spread collaboratively. Second, we will ensure that more modern research outputs are recognised and rewarded. For example, we will ensure that digital software and datasets are properly recognised as research outputs, so that we can minimise efforts spent translating digital outputs into more traditional formats. Third, we will consider the case for new infrastructure to enable more effective sharing of knowledge between researchers and with industry to accelerate open innovation where possible...."