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Open Science Policies

Open Science imposes itself as a vehicle that not only promotes the social and economic impact of science, but also increases the knowledge of the scientific process and the efficiency of research, enhances scientific cooperation and, in this way, contributes decisively to the improvement of the quality of scientific knowledge and to scientific and technological progress based on sharing, contributes to the creation of new areas and research themes and to the reuse of scientific information, and, finally, makes science more inclusive and transparent.

For this reason, Open Science policies have been adopted everywhere. Portugal is no exception, and the political commitment to Open Science is clear from instruments such as the Council of Ministers Resolution no. 21/2016, of March 24th, which defined the guiding principles for the implementation of a National Open Science Policy, or the Decree Law no. 63/2019, of May 16th, which determines that R&D institutions should contribute to an Open Science, ensuring free and open access to scientific knowledge and promoting engagement and interaction with society.

The pursuit of Open Science practices and the benefits derived from them take on greater weight when what is at stake is scientific and technological activity developed under public funding.

For this reason FCT, as the funding entity of the national scientific and technological system, is committed to adopting instruments that promote the practice of Open Science within the framework of the scientific activity it funds.

This effort begins with the adoption of the Policy on Open Access to Scientific Publications Resulting from Research Funded by the FCT and the Policy on the Management and Sharing of Data Resulting from Research Funded by the FCT, with which we intend to guarantee the publication in open access of works resulting from FCT funding and the availability of data resulting from research funded by the FCT in open access.