Expanding Participation Beyond Formal Pilots: PLOCAN (Spain): Leading Open Science Integration

• May 7, 2025

Although PLOCAN was not formally designated as a pilot institution, its leadership position has allowed it to closely monitor pilot activities and incorporate best practices within its own organisational structure. Initial efforts focused on key internal stakeholders, particularly those involved in data generation, management, and governance, enabling a practical and scalable implementation of Open Science principles.

PLOCAN actively incorporates Open Science principles into its organisational practices, focusing on marine data management and software development for innovative marine research solutions.

• Policy Alignment: Strategic plan revised to incorporate Open Science principles within national and institutional frameworks for sustainable commitment.

• FAIR Data Practices: Implementation of internal protocols for FAIR data management covering data collection, storage, and file naming conventions.

• Marine Data Platform: Development of a cloud-based data management system (Microsoft Azure) to optimise data integration, storage, processing, and secure access. • Interactive Tools: Creation of maps and visualisation tools for environmental data, time series, and statistics, promoting usability and accessibility.

• Training: Workshops enhance Open Science awareness and practices within the organisation.

Internal Collaboration and Organisational Commitment to implement Open Science

The success of PLOCAN’s approach has been underpinned by strong internal collaboration and the active commitment of the PLOCAN departments of Responsible Research and Data Management. Strategic leadership has set the direction, technical and scientific teams, especially those managing data infrastructures—have played a vital role in the development of key Open Science initiatives.

Key Achievements and Activities – PLOCAN

• Policy alignment: PLOCAN has revised and aligned its strategic plan with Open Science principles, integrating both national and institutional policy frameworks to ensure coherence and long-term commitment.
• FAIR data training and practises:
  • Training sessions on FAIR data management have been delivered, promoting good Open Science practices among institutional staff.
  • Protocols are being developed to ensure that researchers adhere to FAIR data principles from the very beginning of data collection, including how data is stored and how file names are assigned.
• Marine data management platform: A cloud-based data management system is being developed using Microsoft Azure. The platform aims to optimise the integration, storage, processing, visualisation, and secure access to marine data according to Open Science and Fair principles.
• Interactive data tools: New interactive maps and tools are being developed to visualise environmental variables, time series data, statistics, and other relevant applications, enhancing data usability and accessibility for researchers and stakeholders, according to Open Science and Fair principles.
• Open Software: Development of open-source scripts designed for the marine sciences community, including areas like acoustic data analysis. These scripts are functional and published in a way that ensures their value is recognized. Additionally, they are made available in repositories, ensuring accessibility and community engagement.

Alignment with Broader Initiatives

PLOCAN’s ongoing efforts are strategically aligned with key initiatives such as the Barcelona Declaration and the HRS4R. PLOCAN is working to fully integrate these frameworks into its operations, solidifying its commitment to advancing research capacity and Open Science practices in line with its long-term institutional goals.

Looking Ahead

Many of the activities initiated by PLOCAN will continue beyond the OPUS project’s duration. These include the implementation of a cloud-based infrastructure to manage, store, process, and visualise marine data, and interactive tools such as maps, time series visualisations, and statistical applications to enhance marine data accessibility.

Protocols are also being developed to standardise the naming conventions of files generated at PLOCAN, with the aim of facilitating their searchability, classification, and traceability. At the same time, a metadata template is being created to enable a structured and consistent description of datasets, including key information such as their origin, the variables they contain, and other relevant characteristics. This will support their identification, retrieval, and reuse. As part of this effort, common file formats —such as CSV and NetCDF— that are compatible and widely used by the scientific community are also being adopted, ensuring interoperability, sustainability, and compatibility with data analysis and storage platforms, in line with FAIR principles.

OPUS project on social media and PLOCAN web