Developed by experts from Science Europe Member Organisations, this guide aims to align research data management (RDM) requirements across various research organisations. Science Europe will work to promote these requirements in order to ensure they are accepted by as many stakeholders as possible.

Science Europe welcomes all efforts made to ensure the long-term sustainability of research infrastructures. Released prior to the high-level conference on research infrastructures by the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council, this Open Letter responds to the European Commission’s Staff Working Document on their sustainability. It makes a number of recommendations, based on the key role of Science Europe’s members as funders, operators, and managers of infrastructures.

Research organisations and funders increasingly ask researchers to create Data Management Plans for their work and proposals. A lack of standardisation means that these can be time-consuming to create and difficult to compare and evaluate. Science Europe presents a framework for the creation of domain-specific protocols that can be used as standardised templates, reducing the administrative burden on both researchers, research organisations, and funders.

Science Europe welcomes the efforts made towards the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). In this open letter, the Governing Board of Science Europe reinforces its view that research data should be permanently, publicly, and freely available for re-use. The proposed EOSC aims to further this goal but a number of important questions still remain.

This report explores the challenges facing research funding and performing organisations to design and manage balanced Research Infrastructure (RI) portfolios and design effective cross-border collaborations when setting up and running joint RIs. Discussions with a broad range of stakeholders took place at a dedicated workshop co-hosted by Science Foundation Ireland and the Health Research Board.

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are of utmost importance for Europe’s global competitiveness and this paper puts forward the case of how the focus on RIs in Horizon 2020 should be enhanced.

Science Europe is working to enhance the interoperability of research information systems. This publication sets out common principles to guide their development.

Text and data mining (TDM) is hugely important for science as it can facilitate better research and the free flow of knowledge across borders. This report urges policy-makers to update the legal framework in the context of the upcoming EU copyright reform in order to allow TDM for commercial and non-commercial means, and also to clarify the legal position surrounding it.

The demand for Research Infrastructures is high throughout all fields of science. However, the available funds for capital investment and running costs are generally limited and do not nearly meet the demand. Effective allocation of available funds and effective operation of facilities is therefore important in order to serve the scientific community in the best possible way.

The Roadmap, approved by the Science Europe General Assembly in November 2013, is Science Europe’s action plan to contribute to the elements of a successful research system. It acts as a framework for voluntary collective activity, providing a long-term strategy for the association. The ‘Priority Action Areas’ are those in which Science Europe members believe that there is a potential to achieve tangible and substantive progress, and where they can add real value by working together.