End of Commitment Report – Promote immediate and open access to scientific articles funded by the Fonds de recherche du Québec.

Name of Evaluator

Open Government Committee

Email

gouvernement.ouvert@mcn.gouv.qc.ca

Member Name

Québec, Canada

Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title

Action plan – Québec, Canada, 2021 – 2023

CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action...

Promote immediate and open access to scientific articles funded by the Fonds de recherche du Québec.

Action

This commitment seeks to broaden access to the results of research funded by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies, Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Santé, and Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Société et Culture for those working outside of academia, along with those who do not have an institutional subscription to scholarly journals. Open access to scientific publications, online and free of charge, allows anyone to consult publications that discuss research results.

Problem

Broaden the dissemination of research results to stimulate the development of scientific knowledge and increase the impact of research. When conducted through public funds, the potential benefits to society must be maximized; the sharing of knowledge becomes an essential component.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

Complete

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Three milestones were set as part of this commitment, all of which have been reached.
– A modification of the open access policy of the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) has been completed.
– A support web page on the open access policy for the scientific community, with frequently asked questions, has been put online.
– A number of online training conferences for the scientific community have been launched.

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer:

• Open access distribution policy

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

The FRQs are organizations that adhere to and apply the principles of open science, which has contributed to the fulfillment of the commitment.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

All of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The FRQs have achieved all milestones according to plan and on schedule.

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

Thanks to a change in policy, scientific research is now more readily accessible. The creation of an explanatory web page and a series of online conferences are helping to promote the concept of open science.
Fulfillment of the commitment has helped to broaden the dissemination of scientific research results, stimulate the development of scientific knowledge, and amplify research spin-offs. Implementation of the planned actions has helped accelerate the transition to open access to scientific publications.

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

Fulfilling the commitment has made more scientific research freely available to all, attesting to the greater availability of information to the general public. The available research can be used to support or influence community and government decisions.

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Not Applicable

2.1.4 Other Results

Not Applicable

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Fulfilling the commitment to open access to FRQ scientific articles promotes the sharing of knowledge generated by research. Immediate free access to scientific articles encourages this sharing with the scientific community, as well as with the general public and other communities that could benefit from this research.
The fulfillment of this commitment has resulted in a freer circulation of information acquired thanks to public funding.

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

The scientific community can sometimes be divided over open access to scientific research. The change in policy was accompanied by the necessary educational material to encourage the scientific community to take ownership of this renewed policy. Change management has been taken into account to foster this transition, a desire shared on an international scale.