Open Government Partnership Initiative (OGP) provides an international platform for domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens. OGP has 65 participating countries, which include among others the following EIFL partner countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Serbia, Ukraine, as well as Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi. In OGP countries government and civil society announced the commitment to work together to develop and implement ambitious open government reforms.

On February 11, 2015, the government of Slovak Republic approved the OGP Action Plan 2015, prepared by the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government for the Development of the Civil Society. The Action Plan includes open access (OA), open data and open education policies in addition to traditional OGP open government and open justice initiatives. This approach is quite unique and I think should be replicated in other countries.

OA to the results of scientific research in Slovakia’s OGP Action Plan 2015

“Open publication should include the results of unclassified research financed or co-financed from public sources (either directly or indirectly, eg. through employment)...It is recommended to use standard formats and the latest version of a "Creative Commons Attribution" license. Texts should be deposited in a designated OA online repository immediately upon acceptance for publication and made publicly accessible immediately, but no later than 6 months in Science and Technology and 12 months in the Humanities and Social Science.” (2.2. OA to the results of scientific research)

The Action Plan commits the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport to create an OA strategy and propose a mechanism for voluntary publication of data related to scientific publications as open data.

(oa.cvtisr.sk/en/speakers/jan-gondol-phd.html?page_id=2463) Ján Gondoľ, Ministry of Interior of the Slovak republic, Office of the Plenipotentiary for the development of civil society, and project COMSODE (Components Supporting the Open Data Exploitation), has been a driving force behind this Action Plan and his presentation “OA and Open Educational Resources in Slovakia's Open Government Partnership Action Plan for year 2015” that provides an introduction to this action plan, its goals and individual commitments is available (oa.cvtisr.sk/buxus/docs/prezentacie/Open_Access_2015_Gondol.ppt) here (in Slovak language).

OA policy of Slovakia in the European context 2015 – current state and perspectives

On 25 March 2015 I attended a conference oa.cvtisr.sk/en/about-conference.html?page_id=760) "OA policy of Slovakia in the European context 2015 – current state and perspectives" hosted by the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (SCSTI). Over 150 participants from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany and Slovakia attended the conference and OA as a part of the OGP Action Plan was one of the topics discussed together with (openaire.eu/h2020openaccess) OA in Horizon 2020, strategies for repository development and data sharing in the EU context, copyright management in OA projects, OA publishing, etc. All conference presentations are available (oa.cvtisr.sk/en/programme.html?page_id=750) here.

The framework for OA actions in Romania

Romania is another country in the region, where the National Action Plan for OGP together with the National Strategy for Research, Development and Innovation created a framework for OA policy developments. See a blog post by Nicolaie Constantinescu, OpenAIRE National OA Desk, about the National Strategy’s priorities to ensure and sustain OA to research results here.

And if your country participates in Open Government Partnership Initiative, use good practice examples from Slovakia and Romania to advocate for similar approaches in your country.