GRC adopts open access and integrity plan

The Global Research Council (GRC) has adopted an action plan towards open access to publications and research integrity. The strategy was agreed after a three-day meeting in Berlin, Germany.

It is hoped the action plan will enable GRC member organisations to foster the open exchange of research results with a high degree of flexibility. The plan specifies three basic principles: encouragement, awareness rising, and support for researchers who wish to provide their results in open access. The plan will be implemented by engaging universities, science organisations, libraries and publishers.

The ‘Principles for Research Integrity’ will allow scientists and institutions to remain responsible for undertaking research with integrity, though research funding agencies will still have an obligation to ensure research corresponds to the highest standards possible.

Commenting on the agreement, Professor Helga Nowotny, President of the European Research Council (ERC), said: “The agreed statement of principles on research integrity is very much in line with the ERC’s strategy on scientific misconduct. The ERC already has a practice of maintaining and fostering a culture of research integrity. Another positive outcome is the adoption of an action plan towards Open Access, which is also much in line with steps taken by the ERC in the past.”

The GRC was launched in May 2012 and pledges to find mutually acceptable paths to greater international research collaboration and is formed of the heads of 70 science and research councils around the world. The GRC will reconvene in China next year to discuss the action plan’s progress.