Barcelona Declaration Pushes for Open Default to Research Information - SPARC

"More than 40 organizations have committed to being more transparent about how they share information about their research processes and outputs.

The Barcelona Declaration, released April 16, calls for open research information—or metadata—to be the norm. Signatories include funders and higher education institutions from the Gates Foundation to the Coimbra Group which represents 40 European universities. [Click for a full list of signatories.]

Open data about research activities is vital to open science, but has often been overlooked, said Bianca Kramer, a university librarian for 15 years and one of the driving forces behind the initiative. The idea for the declaration began at a workshop last November that Kramer had with colleagues who shared an interest in changing the research information landscape...."