A Nordic journal on all aspects of Open Science, relevant for or originating in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
Reflections on the demise of First Monday
The journal First Monday, an early Open Access journal without article processing charges, announced recently that they would cease publishing with their May 2026 issue, after 30 years of publishing. This calls for some reflections. First Monday has been a well-respected, much-used journal of standing in its field. It has published relatively much over a long period. That such a journal does not see fit to continue publishing is a sign of problems in institution-based publishing, primarily lack of sufficient institutional financial backing for Diamond OA journals.
Copyright (c) 2026 Jan Erik Frantsvåg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Some highlights from the PKP 2019 International Scholarly Publishing Conference
This an overview of the PKP 2019 International Scholarly Publishing Conference that took place at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) on November 20–22, 2019.
Copyright (c) 2019 Trude Eikebrokk, Aysa Ekanger, Katherine Fonn, Jan Erik Frantsvåg, Obiajulu Odu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Striving for Open Science Compliance in Sweden
Sweden has pursued Open Science as a strategic priority since the 2016 Research and Innovation Bill, which set 2026 targets for open access to publicly funded outputs and “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” research data. Using data from SUHF’s annual Roadmap for Open Science surveys (2023–2025), supplemented by national studies from the National Library of Sweden, the Swedish Research Council, and Vetenskap & Allmänhet, this article evaluates higher education institution’s (HEIs) Open Science implementation across the six priority areas of the National Guidelines for Open Science, with an additional focus on research assessment reform. Progress is strongest in open access to publications, with most HEIs having initiated or completed actions to publish openly, although hybrid publishing and high costs persist. Research data policies and data management plans are widespread, but FAIR-aligned data sharing remains limited. Support for open research methods is expanding, yet integration into doctoral and undergraduate education is still weak. Open educational resources and public engagement are the least developed areas, with limited reported structured activity, although initiatives are emerging. E-infrastructures for Open Science remain uneven and insufficiently developed, with weak coordination at both national and international levels. Engagement with research assessment reform is increasing, yet substantive changes to assessment practices are still limited. The findings point to persistent gaps between policy and practice, driven by fragmented governance, uneven support and training, and weak incentives. Proposed actions for full Open Science implementation include establishing a shared national vision, building coordinated infrastructures, securing long-term investment, developing skills across the research lifecycle, and aligning incentives and assessment. The coming decade will need to move beyond commitments and declarations, translating them into sustained, measurable practice to maintain Sweden’s international competitiveness in Open Science.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sabina Anderberg, Hans O. Karlsson, Elin Kronander, Ineke Luijten, Merlijn de Smit, Eva Stensköld, Jessica M. Lindvall https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Languages in scholarly publishing and support of scholarly publishing in the Nordic area
Based on data collected in the DIAMAS Survey of institutional publishing in the European Research Area, I show which languages are used for publication and service providing among respondents from the Nordic and Baltic region. I also discuss languages for service and support in the Nordic countries, in particular in Norway, in light of legal requirements.
Copyright (c) 2024 Jan Erik Frantsvåg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Editorial introduction to the 2025 thematic volume "Communities and collaborations".
Copyright (c) 2025 Aysa Ekanger, Mikael Laakso, Liisi Lembinen, Michael Svendsen, Gintarė Tautkevičienė, Lars Wenaas https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Insights into Participatory Policymaking
This article explores how Finland created its first citizen science policy by involving the stakeholders in the policymaking process. The aim is to assess how engaging stakeholders can shape science policy. The basis of the study is in the shift of responsibility for coordinating open science in Finland from the Ministry of Education and Culture to the Finnish research community, specifically the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV). We examined documents from the TSV citizen science working group, including meeting notes, survey results, and the final policy paper, to understand how stakeholder participation influenced the policy-making process. The results show that involving stakeholders helped shape policy recommendations, especially in improving institutional support, guidelines, and funding visibility for citizen science. However, challenges like uneven awareness and engagement among stakeholders could limit the effectiveness of participatory approaches. By placing these findings within the context of participatory policymaking and stakeholder theory, the article provides insights into how inclusive policy design works. This study adds to the understanding of how participatory governance and science policy development can be integrated into institutional frameworks to drive practical change.
Copyright (c) 2025 Elena Svahn, Jonni Karlsson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Grassroots networks can help implement and harmonize open research efforts
Grassroots networks are peer-led, bottom-up initiatives that can drive meaningful change in research reform. Norwegian Reproducibility Network (NORRN), a nation-wide initiative after the model from similar networks around the world, is an example of a grassroots network where a community of researchers works together towards more transparent, rigorous and robust research. By connecting with other researchers, librarians and research support staff across Norwegian universities and colleges as well as various stakeholders, including higher-education institutions and research funders, NORRN aims to help implement and harmonize open and reproducible research efforts across the country. In this paper, we describe the origins, mission, and structure of NORRN and similar networks, as well as successes, challenges and future directions of NORRN’s efforts that show a critical role of grassroots initiatives in supporting research improvement.
Copyright (c) 2025 Agata Bochynska, Tamara Kalandadze, Max Korbmacher, Lewend Mayiwar, Julien Mayor, Daniel Quintana https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The dream of FAIR data is to have, where possible, research data open and accessible to review and reuse. The present reality complicates data’s findability in a myriad of ways not least of which is the decentralised nature of research data repositories and indexes that characterise the data publishing landscape. In an effort to improve this situation, we, a network of library research support staff in Denmark, have developed a workshop designed to enhance the competencies of researchers to search for published data. This case study summarises the genesis of this workshop, its various iterations and potential avenues for future development.
Copyright (c) 2025 Benjamin Derksen, Asger Væring Larsen, Pernille Nailor, Andreas Helles Pedersen, Sacha Zurcher https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Speech Synthesis Integration in Open Journal Systems
This case study addresses the issue of poor accessibility and speech synthesis compatibility in research papers published as PDFs. We conducted a pilot study using EPUB format in a selection of our university's open-access journals, employing a template designed for speech synthesis compatibility. Initially, we tested markup designed for speech synthesis software but found it was too labour-intensive. Subsequently, we developed a workflow using a document template with wider compatibility and good universal design. This approach simplifies ongoing management and ensures accessible files with appropriate metadata. Other publishing services, especially those that use Open Journal Systems, can replicate our workflow.
Copyright (c) 2025 Peter Vedal Utnes, Obiajulu Odu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Finland has a New National Declaration for Open Science and Research – and the Keyword is Community
Finland’s 2025 revision of the National Declaration for Open Science and Research demonstrates a community-driven approach to policy-making. The research community led by over 400 experts from diverse research organisations contributed through workshops, public hearings, and ongoing expert panels. By emphasising co-creation, the process strengthened academic freedom, fostered shared ownership, and produced a Declaration focused on active commitments, guiding principles, and contemporary challenges such as research security and responsible openness. Finland’s model shows how structured coordination can turn broad participation into robust, actionable, and widely supported open science policy.
Copyright (c) 2025 Henriikka Mustajoki, Jonni Karlsson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Experiences and Reflections: the PKP Sprint and CRAFT-OA Tech Event in Turin 2024
This article presents the impressions and reports of the three authors that attended three events: the national or large PKP OJS installations meeting, a PKP Sprint, and a CRAFT-OA Tech Event at the University of Turin. The events brought together a community from scholarly publishing and academia to share knowledge and collaborate with the purpose of building a stronger digital publishing ecosystem. The first day of the event concentrated on a meeting with representatives of the large and national PKP OJS installations. The meeting participants discussed technical and non-technical challenges they face and proffered solutions. The PKP Sprint on the second and third day produced some good ideas and results on documentation and new PKP software features. The CRAFT-OA Tech Event on the fourth and fifth day brought together key players in Diamond Open Access publishing to discuss technological and strategic improvements. The Tech event featured presentations and discussions on software development, indexing, and training. This article is about the sessions the three authors attended. We hope it will be useful for those who have not attended a national or large OJS installations meeting, PKP Sprint or CRAFT-OA Tech Event yet, and we hope it will motivate and inspire the readers to join in the future.
Copyright (c) 2025 Obiajulu Odu, Rune Nilssen, Karl Magnus Nilsen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Citizen engagement as a crisis response at higher education institutions in the Baltic states and Ukraine
This publication presents social actions organised in Baltic universities in collaboration with policy, industry, and society, aiming to support Ukrainian populations in humanitarian crises. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many Ukrainians had to leave the war zone and emigrate to other countries in order to find a safe place to live. This humanitarian crisis imposed new challenges for Ukrainian people who became refugees in the Baltic states, as well as to the host societies. There was a lack of resilience mechanisms to cope with this new reality and provide support for Ukrainian refugees. To address these challenges, six partners (four Baltic universities, a Ukranian university and an organization in Greece) collaborated in the project ''Supporting Ukraine through citizen engagement at Baltic Universities'' (Baltics4UA) under the Erasmus+ Programme. The main goal of Baltics4UA project is to enhance Baltic universities’ social responsibility through civic engagement actions to address the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis in the Baltic states. A methodological approach that focuses on citizen engagement and emphasises social innovation and participation has been developed in the framework of this project prior to organising 23 university-driven social actions in every partner institution. Overall, 488 participants took part in social actions. Participants were asked to fill in a post-event evaluation form; this feedback was used to identify whether the social actions met the aims and objectives of the project. Moreover, the organisers of the social actions described the impact of each action by evaluating the aim and goal of the social action, as well as the level of citizen engagement. While planning, organising and implementing these social actions, project partners encountered a variety of challenges and learned lessons, which can serve as useful guidelines for those seeking to foster effective business, academia and society collaboration while providing support and engaging societies in the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis.
Copyright (c) 2024 Inese Abolina, Anna Beitane, Kateryna Boichenko, Rasa Dovidonytė, Catherine Gibson, Yurii Kondratyk, Stefania Oikonomou, Aistė Pranckutė, Gintarė Tautkevičienė, Lianne Teder, Nataliia Vovk, Anna Shilinh, Katerina Zourou https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Using Open Journal Systems (OJS) for a podcast series
The podcast series Open Science Talk published its first issue in September 2018. Since the beginning, it has been published on the audio platform SoundCloud. Since January 2020, however, the Open Journal Systems (OJS) installation of UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Septentrio Academic Publishing, has been used to publish the same content. In this case study article, the current host of the Open Science Talk series discusses what benefits it gives to publish on a platform tailor-made for academic content in addition to the podcast ecosystem represented by SoundCloud and its API.
Copyright (c) 2024 Per Pippin Aspaas https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Open, transparent and honest – the way we practice research
This paper makes the case for Open Science as a means to support and practice Responsible Conduct of Research. Responsible and ethical research practices imply research integrity in terms of transparency, honesty and accountability in all parts of research, being it when attaining funding for research, collecting and analyzing research data, collaborating on research, performing scholarly communication, e.g. authoring and disseminating research etc. Likewise, the topics normally associated with Open Science directly support responsible conduct and in fact, one can argue that Open Science is a ubiquitous prerequisite for good research practice.
Copyright (c) 2015 Bertil Fabricius Dorch https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Benefits of open access articles for industry
In this short article, benefits of open access articles for industry are discussed from the point of view of the industry as both the authors and readers of open access articles. Open access articles unlock the barrier to share knowledge and experiences and building collaboration – all of which are crucial for an industry that wishes to make a global impact for a sustainable future.
Copyright (c) 2017 Tita Alissa Bach, Bobbie Ray-Sannerud https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Need for a change in scientific publishing
Outsourcing of scientific publishing to scientific journals is problematic, both economically and academically. It is expensive, slow, non-transparent, unbalanced and excluding. Academic library subscriptions contribute substantially to the publishing companies’ 30-40% profit. There is general consensus that scientific reports should be openly accessible on the Internet. This is generally not the case with articles published in the traditional scientific journals. Open access journals are multiplying fast, but many are of questionable quality. Although open access publishing is less expensive than journal subscription, the article processing charges (APC) of open access journals are still high (up to 5,000 USD) and should be reduced. Science is expensive, scientific publishing should not be expensive. The impression the present system, with its editors and anonymous reviewers, conveys of quality and objectivity, is partly an illusion. The basis for decision on manuscripts is too thin and the balance of power is too uneven. Instead of a complicated fallible system, a simple fallible system is suggested: web-based, indexed and searchable repositories funded and organized by accountable and non-profit institutions/organizations where researchers may upload reports that have been thoroughly reviewed by and are supported by one or more competent, impartial, unbiased and named expert peers chosen by the authors themselves. After publication, reports may be further openly evaluated and commented online by named researchers in the field. Article processing charges should be moderate. Such a system would be simple, reasonable, fast, transparent, balanced, including, efficient, and adequately quality secured.
Copyright (c) 2018 Steinar Risnes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Norwegian Read & Publish agreements – an overview
During the course of 2019, Unit (the Norwegian Directorate for ICT and Joint Services in Higher Education & Research), who acts as the Norwegian coordinator of Open Access and licence negotiations, landed Open Access agreements with the four major academic publishers. This article gives an overview of the key elements in the agreements with Wiley, Elsevier, Springer Nature and Taylor & Francis.
Copyright (c) 2019 Lene Ottesen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The article describes a two-year project (running from 2021 to 2022) that worked on getting Danish Open Access journals indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The project was run in partnership by Copenhagen Business School (CBS Library), Royal Danish Library and Aalborg University Library, in close collaboration with DOAJ. All of the journals that participated are hosted on the libraries’ Open Journal Systems (OJS). In this article the authors demonstrate some of the challenges the journals and the project group faced in the inclusion process and in the assistance the project provided, as well as learning outcomes and perspectives.
Copyright (c) 2023 Claus Rosenkrantz Hansen, Jesper Boserup Thestrup, Rasmus Rindom Riise, Rie Karen Marie Iversen, Solveig Sandal Johnsen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Beware of predatory publishing – but also of low-quality blacklists
We should be wary of low-quality journals and predatory OA publishing. But we should also know which sources’ judgement to trust. Is the new website Predatory Reports a trustworthy source of information?
Copyright (c) 2023 Jan Erik Frantsvåg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Alchemists needed, to transform bronze to gold!
Much Bronze OA is of little interest from an OA point of view, but there is a subset of Bronze that has potential to be converted to Diamond OA. This is the kind of Bronze where the lack of a formal OA status is not due to economic considerations, but lack of resources and/or competence.
Copyright (c) 2022 Jan Erik Frantsvåg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Two novices' impressions from the PKP Sprint in Helsinki, 15th–16th of June 2022
The present paper is a brief overview of our impressions of the PKP Sprint in Helsinki, 15th–16th of June 2022. Main focus will be on the groups where we were present. We hope the paper can be of use for those who have not yet attended a PKP sprint, and maybe an encouragement to sign up when there is a chance.
Copyright (c) 2022 John David Didriksen, Rune Nilssen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
An Open Science Roadmap for Swedish Higher Education Institutions
In the spring of 2021, a National Open Science Roadmap for Swedish Higher Education Institutions (HEI) was adopted by The Association of Swedish HEIs. The roadmap’s eight principles aim to guide the HEIs’ development of local structures and processes, speed up their concrete actions and encourage their collaboration in the shift to Open Science. The recommendations are concentrated on specific measures for open access to research data and research publications at HEIs. The primary target group for the roadmap is university management at Swedish HEIs. In the spring of 2022 the roadmap is to be supplemented by an action plan for Open Science.
Copyright (c) 2022 Sabina Anderberg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Some pitfalls of OA discussions – an opinion piece
This is an attempt to vent some frustrations accumulated over 25 years of following – and participating in – OA debates.
Copyright (c) 2021 Jan Erik Frantsvåg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Introducing level X in the Norwegian Publication Indicator
Norwegian register for scientific journals, series and publishers
Copyright (c) 2021 Vidar Røeggen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Research Data Alliance (RDA) is a neutral international network aiming at promoting data sharing and data-driven research. The efforts of RDA are organized in a number of groups, including national nodes, where contributors work together to develop and adopt approaches that foster the uptake of standards and good practice of research data management through all stages of the data lifecycle. Since 2019, Norway has had its national RDA group. This article gives a short introduction to the Norwegian RDA group. In section 1 we provide some background information about RDA. Section 2 describes the Norwegian RDA group, including its background and organisational structure, as well as past and future activities.
Copyright (c) 2021 Philipp Conzett, Trond Kvamme
Monographs and academic books are increasingly becoming a focus point in the open access debate and policy developments. This article gives a personal account of the rationale behind open access book publishing and open infrastructures for books. It elaborates on the need for collaboration between the actors in the community in order to sustain open access book publishing to the benefit of the scholarly community and the public at large.
A problematic practice has evolved, which is threatening to undermine research in the social sciences and humanities. Bibliometrics is often claimed to be able to measure researchers’ efficiency. We find this quite problematic and, in this article, we illustrate this point by discussing two different bibliometric practices. One is the so-called h-index, the other the so-called BFI-points (Den bibliometriske Forskningsindikator, The Bibliometric Research Indicator). The BFI was never intended to be used for evaluating individual researchers and their productivity. Yet since its introduction in 2008 especially the social sciences and the humanities experience a pressure to deliver “BFI points” and academic job advertisements within the social sciences and the humanities increasingly mention expectations for people’s past and/or future production of BFI points. The h-index is even more problematic because no one academic database covers all the research publications in the world. The whole thing is completely disorganized, and as many as five different h-indexes exist for each researcher. What makes the h-index even more useless is that it will not let you make comparisons across disciplines. Furthermore, like other simple measurements, it is liable to be manipulated and misinterpreted. On that background, it is remarkable that numbers extracted from incomplete databases are used for describing the quality of researchers and their institutions.
Copyright (c) 2020 Charlotte Wien, Bertil Fabricius Dorch
Impressions from the 14th Munin Conference on Scholarly Publishing 2019
The 14th Munin Conference on Scholarly Publishing 2019 took place at UiT The Arctic University of Norway on November 27–28, 2019. This short article reports some impressions from the conference. The full materials of the conference, including presentation slides and video recordings are available at https://doi.org/10.7557/scs.2019.1.
Implementation of Open Science in Lithuania
The number of open science policies being adopted in Europe by universities and research institutions is constantly increasing, however many European countries face difficulties while implementing open science practically. This publication reveals the Lithuanian landscape of open science policies and institutional involvement in open science practices. Prerequisites for sustainable and consistent open science implementation such as open science infrastructure, incentives for researchers, research assessment, and repositories' compliance with EC requirements on a national level are discussed.
Moving towards open science? Conference report: the 9th Conference on Open Access Scholarly Publishing, Lisbon, September 20–21, 2017
The Conference on Open Access Scholarly Publishing, COASP, is held annually with the aim of reaching professional publishing organizations, independent publishers and university presses, as well as librarians, university administrators and other stakeholders. Here, we outline some themes and highlights from this year’s conference.
Copyright (c) 2017 Jörgen Eriksson, Christer Lagvik, Emma Nolin
In this paper I will discuss offsetting deals from their impact on accessibility, affordability to research results and on the possible development of scientific communication towards new modes and methods. I will look at the Swedish National Consortia’s offsetting deals as a specific case study.
Summary and thoughts from a conference – attending the 7th Conference on Open Access Scholarly Publishing
Copyright (c) 2015 Jörgen Eriksson, Helena Stjernberg, Aina Svensson
A new funding model and improved infrastructure for the Finnish Open Access journals
A new project launched by the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies and the National Library of Finland will be looking for ways to make Open Access publishing more viable for the Finnish scholarly journals. Most of the journals are published by small learned societies with modest resources. The project will investigate potential new funding models for the OA journals and develop improved technological infrastructure for them.
Copyright (c) 2015 Jyrki Ilva, Johanna Lilja
Crystals of Knowledge Production. An Intercontinental Conversation about Open Science and the Humanities
In this article two scholars engage in a conversation about open access and open science in research communication with a specific focus on the Humanities. The two scholars have very different points of departure. Whereas Jean-Claude Guedón has been a professor of Literature in North-America for many years and part of the open access movements since its beginning, Thomas Wiben Jensen is in the early part of his carreer and fairly new to the concept of open access. The conversation begins with a focus on the Danish national strategy for open access and this strategy's consquenses for the journal NyS where Thomas Wiben is part of the editorial board. However, the conversation brings the reader on an unexpected journey through the history of science communication and through alternative ways of understanding knowledge production as frozen moments or crystals in the Great Conversation of science. It is the hope of the editor and the contributors that the conversation can lead to a debate about innovative ways of communicating and distributing scientific results.
Copyright (c) 2015 Niels Stern, Jean-Claude Guédon, Thomas Wiben Jensen
Welcome to Nordic Perspectives on Open Science
Copyright (c) 2015 Jan Erik Frantsvåg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0