Transparency of Scientific Research Information (UA0104)

In 2019, the web portal of the National Repository of Academic Texts (hereinafter referred to as the National Repository) was launched. It is a publicly accessible repository of dissertations, scientific articles, and other scientific materials (academic texts). The implementation of the National Repository, created as part of the Open Government Partnership Initiative action plan for 2018- 2020, is intended to implement the fundamental principle of open science in Ukraine, recognized in academic circles. However, the National Repository had many unjustified restrictions on access to scientific materials. In particular, only authorized users could download materials from the National Repository, which significantly narrowed the number of visitors to the National Repository. Moreover, such users could download only a limited number and volume of academic texts. Addressing this issue, the Ministry of Education and Science approved amendments to the Regulation of the National Repository of Academic Texts. The amendments were authored by specialists and experts of the non-governmental organization Together Against Corruption, and they: grant visitors to the web portal of the National Repository the opportunity to view and download electronic versions of academic texts free of charge on equal terms with authorized users of the National Repository; remove all limits on the number and size of academic texts in the National Repository (its public section) that can be downloaded during the day; require indexing of full academic texts in the National Repository using external search engines (bots) on the Internet; make it possible for external anti-plagiarism programs to access electronic versions of academic texts in the National Repository for anti-plagiarism checks; require that the central National Repository automatically be populated from local repositories managed by higher education and research institutions. In accordance with these amendments to the Regulation, in November 2022, the Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information, the manager of the National Repository, lifted all restrictions on the number and size of academic texts in the public section of the National Repository that can be downloaded. Also, visitors to the National Repository were granted the technical possibility to download materials from the National Repository without authorization. However, academic texts are still not indexed by Internet search engines and anti-plagiarism programs, making it impossible to use the entire range of open academic texts (national heritage) for anti-plagiarism checks. There is still no open access to materials that demonstrate the practical use of scientific research results, no linkage of such data to academic texts contained in the National Repository, and the open peer review practice develops slowly. In addition, as part of implementing the Open Government Partnership Initiative in 2021-2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued Order No. 892, dated October 08, 2022, approving the national open science plan. But today, Ukraine has no practice of saving and reusing scientific data. There are no data stewards in scientific institutions and establishments. The Ukrainian organizations that implement international projects, in particular under the EU programs Horizon Europe and Euratom, pass on works for scientific data preservation to partners from other countries. To address these issues, a set of measures are being proposed to ensure transparency and availability of scientific research information, specifically: ensure access to and facilitate the search for information on the scientific research and development funded with the involvement of the state and local budgets; establish open peer review of the scientific research works that do not contain restricted information and funded with the involvement of the state and local budgets; launch and implement a pilot project on the management and preservation of scientific data accumulated during scientific research and development in certain fields of knowledge, funded with the involvement of the state and local budgets; raise the requirements for implementing the results of dissertation research, as well as scientific research and development funded with the involvement of the state and local budgets, and ensure wide access to information on the use, value, and social impact of such research and development.

Steps | Responsible agency | Completion time/period | Delivery indication

1. Ensuring accessible and easy search for information on the scientific research and development funded with the involvement of the state and local budgets | Ministry of Education and Science Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information (by consent) | November 2023 — July 2024 | Access has been ensured to the registration cards of research works and the registration cards of dissertations dated from 2000; A search and analytical system, which features data filtering and is based on the registry of started, ongoing, and completed open scientific research and technical developments, as well as protected dissertations, has been developed and put into industrial operation; The search and analytical system has access to relevant registers and databases and is integrated with the National Repository and European repositories of open scientific publications through standard metadata exchange protocols

2. Establishment of open peer review of scientific research works that do not contain restricted information and funded with the involvement of the state and local budgets | Ministry of Education and Science | April — December 2024 | Methodological recommendations have been developed for R&D performers and reviewers to conduct open and responsible reviews of scientific research works; Mandatory review has been established of final reports on completed fundamental, applied scientific research, and technical (experimental) developments funded in whole or in part from the state budget, as well as publication of such reviews in the National Repository for free access, with reference to the full texts of the respective completed open scientific research works, technical developments, and defended dissertations; The infrastructure for the storage and retrieval of scientific data as part of the open scientific data repository and the preprint archive has been developed and made operational; The open scientific data repository and the preprint archive have been integrated with European repositories through standard metadata exchange protocols.

3. Implementation of a pilot project on the management and preservation of scientific data accumulated during scientific research and development in certain fields of knowledge, carried out with the involvement of the state and local budgets (in certain fields of knowledge) | Ministry of Education and Science Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information (by consent) National Academy of Sciences (by consent) | December 2023 — December 2024 | Methodological recommendations on scientific data management for higher education and scientific institutions have been developed to define mechanisms for the preservation and re-use of scientific data, as well as metadescriptions of scientific data to ensure the possibility of further aggregation of scientific data at the national level; Changes have been made to the system of state registration and record-keeping of scientific research and development works and dissertations on technical and software-based addition of scientific data to academic texts and their publication on the official web portal of the National Repository

4. Increasing the requirements for the implementation of the results of dissertation studies, as well as scientific research and development carried out with the involvement of funds from the state and local budgets, ensuring the availability of information on their use, value, and social impact | Ministry of Education and Science Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information (by consent) | November 2023 — December 2024 | Methodological recommendations have been developed for R&D performers to implement the results obtained and properly confirm their use, value, and social impact; Mandatory submission of information has been introduced on the results of implementing fundamental, applied scientific research, scientific and technical (experimental) developments carried out for the account of the state budget (in full or in part) to the Automated Information Fund of Research and Development Works and Defended Dissertations within three years after completion; Amendments have been made to Order No. 271 of the Ministry of Education and Science, dated March 24, 2022, concerning adding research results implementation information; Amendments have been made to the system of state registration and record keeping of R&D works and dissertations to ensure the addition of relevant materials at the time of state registration, as well as at the time of preparation for the defense for a scientific degree; Adding data on the implementation of R&D works and dissertations to academic texts and their publication on the official web portal of the National Repository have been arranged; An action plan for the popularization of science has been developed, considering international experiences, particularly the principles of the European Citizen Science Association (ESCA).

5. Provision of access to information related to the process of preparing and defending undergraduate student qualifying papers and post-graduate student qualifying papers on a single electronic platform. | Ministry of Education and Science Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information (by consent) | December 2023 | The possibility of unhindered indexing of academic texts in the National Repository by external search engines/search bots on the Internet has been ensured; Monitoring of the functioning of the National Repository has been implemented, and a report on the National Repository's activities is published quarterly on the official web portal of the National Repository; Amendments to Order No. 758 of the Ministry of Education and Science, dated July 14, 2015, have been approved.

6. Improving the collection of information in the field of science by amending the forms of departmental reporting of the Ministry of Education and Science and state statistical forms | State Statistics Service Ministry of Education and Science | November 2023 — December 2024 | The forms of departmental reports of the Ministry of Education and Science and state statistical forms have been amended.

Action Plan Review

• Verifiable: Yes
• Does it have an open government lens? Yes
• Potential for results: Modest

Some commitments carry forward objectives of unfinished commitments from the fifth action plan (2021–2022) but without significant changes. Commitment 4 mainly covers activities from the National Open Science Plan developed during the fifth action plan. [31] It aims to improve access to scientific research data and texts, allow users to check texts for plagiarism, provide access to dissertation texts in one place, and establish open peer review for scientific works funded by state and local budgets. It also aims to improve exchanges among scientists, reduce corruption in awarding academic degrees, and improve the collection of information in the field of science. Finally, according to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the commitment aims to introduce transparent methods for evaluating the activities of scientific institutions and the scientific activities of institutions of higher education in order to direct additional budget funds to those institutions that demonstrate the best results in their field of research. The IRM assesses this commitment as having modest potential for results, as it entails positive changes to transparency in the field of science, building on the previous commitment.