The Government of the Republic of Slovenia has adopted the National Strategy of open access (OA) to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015-2020.

The Slovenian and English versions of the National Strategy, which was formally adopted on 3 September 2015, are available on the mizs.gov.si/si/delovna_podrocja/direktorat_za_znanost/sektor_za_znanost/strategije_s_podrocja_znanosti/nacionalna_strategija_odprtega_dostopa_do_znanstvenih_objav_in_raziskovalnih_podatkov_v_sloveniji_2015_2020 a> of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.

EIFL welcomes the new strategy, which arises out of a public consultation process. EIFL and the OpenAIRE and PASTEUR4OA projects supported the consultation process by providing a joint submission.

EXAMPLE OF GOOD PRACTICE

The National Strategy provides a good practice example of a fully aligned national policy with the Horizon 2020 (H2020) (openaire.eu/open-access-in-horizon-2020) Open Access mandate and (openaire.eu/h2020-oa-data-pilot) Open Research Data Pilot, and the July 2012 European Commission’s Recommendations on access to and preservation of scientific information.

Some examples of alignment include:

• Chapters 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 are translations into Slovenian language of the clause 29.2 of the H2020 Multi-beneficiary General Model Grant Agreement;
• Chapter 6.4. mentions article processing charges as eligible costs to be included in the research project budget in the framework of the nationally funded research;
• Chapter 6.5. includes support for researchers and monitoring compliance using the OpenAIRE services.    
• Chapter 7 describes a national pilot programme Open access to research data that follows the approach of the H2020 Open Research Data Pilot.    

We also welcome the open access publishing initiatives in the National Strategy requiring that:

• Journals published by publishers based in Slovenia containing peer-reviewed articles and receiving national public funding for their activities from 2015 onwards should be openly accessible.    
• Publishers of scientific monographs based in Slovenia that receive national public funding from 2015 onwards should strive to publish the monographs through business models that will enable open access to the full text from the moment of publication under Creative Commons licenses (for example, CC-BY).

EIFL’S SUPPORT FOR OPEN ACCESS IN SLOVENIA

In 2012 EIFL supported an open access advocacy project in Slovenia that -

• Launched a national website on open access in Slovenian: OPENACCESS.SI.
• Created open access network consisting of 13 major Slovenian research institutions (universities, institutes and libraries), representing most active researchers in the country.
• Formed a core group of open access advocates who acted as an open interest group advocating for open access, and as the advisory body on open access in Slovenia.

The EIFL open access advocacy project received the attention, support and cooperation of the main national actors in research and development, including the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology; the Science and Technology Directorate at the Ministry, and the Slovenian Research Agency.

THE POLICY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

A working group, nominated by the Minister for Education, Science and Sport prepared the draft National Strategy document. The working group included the National Point of Reference for Access to and Preservation of Scientific Information, and a number of stakeholders: the Science Division of the Ministry; the Slovenian Research Agency; the Rectors’ Conference of the Republic of Slovenia; the Coordination of Independent Research Institutions of Slovenia; the Slovenian Current Research Information System (SICRIS); the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia (ARNES); experts on open access to publications and research data, including PASTEUR4OA Key Node Slovenia and OpenAIRE National Open Access Desk Slovenia.

The Ministry for Education, Science and Sport announced  a mizs.gov.si/si/delovna_podrocja/direktorat_za_znanost/sektor_za_znanost/dogodki_in_obvestila/javna_razprava_o_osnutku_dokumenta_odprti_dostop_v_sloveniji_2015_2020_nacela_in_dolocila_glede_odprtega_dostopa_do_znanstvenih_objav_ter_raziskovalnih_podatkov_v_sloveniji_v_obdobju_2015_2020 public consultation on the draft document that lasted 15 days, from 19 May to 2 June 2015, generating 24 submissions. The report on the public consultation is available at the Ministry’s public consultation web page (the direct link to the report is mizs.gov.si/fileadmin/mizs.gov.si/pageuploads/Znanost/doc/Odprti_dostop/1_Porocilo_o_javni_razpravi_-_18.6.2015.docx here.

The process culminated with further consultation on the document by the ministries and a final vote by the Slovenian government.