Japan Initiates a Nationwide Plan Towards Open Science

Japan Initiates a Nationwide Plan Towards Open Science 1024 576 Open and Universal Science (OPUS) Project

In June, the Japanese government announced a significant move toward achieving its goal of making publicly funded research papers freely accessible by April 2025. As reported by Dalmeet Singh Chawla for Nature News, this initiative positions Japan as one of the pioneering countries to implement a nationwide open access (OA) plan.

Major Investment in Infrastructure

To facilitate the transition to OA, the Japanese government has committed ¥10 billion (approximately £50 million) to standardize data and publication repositories across universities. Each institution will maintain its own repository to host research produced by its academics. However, these repositories will be integrated into a single national server. This integration will create a unified record of all research produced by Japanese academics, ensuring that articles published in Japanese are not overlooked.

Adopting a Green OA Strategy

Japan’s approach to open science will be based on the green OA model, which the government believes is more feasible for universities compared to the gold OA model. Green OA involves self-archiving where researchers publish their work in repositories, making it freely available. This strategy has received positive feedback from experts in the field of open science and OA.

Johan Rooryck, Executive Director of cOAlition S, endorsed the use of green OA, particularly for content currently behind paywalls. He emphasized that this model would help democratize access to research. Similarly, Kathleen Shearer, Executive Director of the Confederation of Open Access Repositories, praised the Japanese government’s plans for their equitable nature, highlighting how they would ensure broader and more inclusive access to scientific knowledge.

With this strategic investment and commitment to green OA, Japan is set to lead the way in making academic research more accessible, fostering a more inclusive and collaborative scientific community on a national scale.

Original article via The Publication Plan

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