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Position of Portugal and FCT in relation to Plan S

Portugal, through the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, and in particular the FCT, recognize the importance of and welcome the European initiative Plan S, promoted by Science Europe, especially for enshrining the principle that the results of publicly-funded research should be available in immediate open access.

A pioneer in the open access movement at the international level, Portugal has been at the forefront in terms of implementing practices to make scientific publications available in open access, creating infrastructures and introducing institutional benchmarks and regulations since the early 2000s.

The MCTES has defined as a priority the commitment of science to the principles and practices of Open Science, embodied, among other documents, in the Guiding Principles for Open Science, published in February 2016, and in the Resolution of the Council of Ministers, n. 21/2016, of April 11, 2016, which determined the guidelines for the establishment of a National Open Science Policy, namely the open access to scientific publications and data resulting from publicly funded research and the guarantee of the preservation of scientific publications and data in order to allow their patrimonialization, reuse and continued access.          

Portugal, through FCT, has been at the forefront in implementing actions and measures aimed at the transition to an Open Science environment, some of which are now included in Plan S, namely the publication of an Open Access Policy at FCT with limited eligibility to the prices of Article Processing Charges (APC's), conditioning the payment of APC's to the attribution of open licenses, or even the introduction in the Evaluation Regulation of Research Units of a provision that prevents the assessment of the merit of the units evaluated through metrics (eg. Journal Impact Factor) or encouraging the creation of research data management plans.

In this sense, FCT supports the objectives of Plan S and will actively collaborate to achieve them, recommending that its configuration and implementation program be discussed nationally and internationally, and especially with the scientific community, in order to ensure an effective, equitable and sustainable transition to Open Science, pursuing the essential principles that inspire and guide it. In particular, it is considered essential:

  • Consider and value the existing repository networks, taking advantage of the resources they integrate and capitalizing on the investment made, recognizing that Green Open Access can be a useful and legitimate way to make published scientific information immediately available without restrictions, in articulation with the strengthening of copyright retention mechanisms;
  • To guarantee that the transition models, namely through the "golden way", do not reinforce the monopolistic nature in the scientific publishing market. Therefore, the implementation of limits to be applied to APC's is considered fundamental; 
  • Strengthen the positive incentive mechanisms within the science evaluation and funding systems, respecting the diversity and specificity of scientific and disciplinary areas and practices;
  • Recognize and adapt open access publishing models to new forms of science creation and communication, privileging open infrastructures and services that enable their portability and supporting repositories and other platforms and services originating in academic communities.

FCT believes that careful implementation of plan S will be a significant step towards Open Access as a scholarly communication system, and a major boost for Open Science as a whole, with all its potential to generate relevant benefits for Science and Society, some of which are already materializing.