Ten partner universities of the ENLIGHT alliance approved a set of common principles for open science (Open Science) on November 23, 2023 in Uppsala, Sweden. Comenius University is also part of the alliance, and the goal of the initiative is to create a unified basis for the culture of open science in the group of participating European universities. Open science is intended to facilitate faster dissemination, sharing, and application of the results of scientific work.
The ENLIGHT Alliance undertakes to apply the so-called standard open access to online resources in teaching, research or activities aimed at communicating with the public for the benefit of science and society as a whole.
Open science increases the quality and reach of scientific work and plays a key role in the transformation of higher education at universities of the ENLIGHT alliance. It significantly contributes to increasing transparency, responsibility and multiple use of science results and supports mutual cooperation of scientific teams.
As Marek Števček, rector of the Comenius University in Bratislava, stated: “We adhere to the principles of open science. It is important to us that scientific results serve the entire society, and that all researchers have access to them, but also people who are not involved in science professionally. I am glad that Comenius University is embarking on this journey together with other partner universities associated in the ENLIGHT alliance.”
The main elements of the rectors’ joint declaration are the promotion of open science through training and sharing of best practices, the importance of principles for working with FAIR data, unrestricted open access (Open Access) to publications , support for open educational materials ( Open Education ) and responsible research assessment ( Responsible Research Assessment ). .
The ENLIGHT alliance brings together ten European universities, including the Comenius University. Its goal is to expand study opportunities, share know-how, build networking, internationalize and connect research, science and education. After three years of operation, the Alliance received funding from the European Commission for the next four years in the amount of EUR 14.4 million . A part is planned to be set aside precisely for the initiatives of members of the academic community, with an emphasis on the support of scientific activities. In addition to the Comenius University, the alliance includes the University of Uppsala in Sweden, the University of Ghent in Belgium, the University of Bordeaux in France, the University of the Basque Country in Spain, the University of Galway in Ireland, the University of Göttingen in Germany, the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the University of Tartu in Estonia and the University of Bern in Switzerland.