• The Open Science section remains within the Scientific Information Service, and has been renamed Open Science Operations, with a new section lead; the group’s day-to-day scope remains broadly unchanged, but it now sits within the OSI department.

  • The mission of Open Science Operations is to run the Open Science Office and support researchers/experiments in open-science practices (notably open access publishing and data management), while also supporting governance and coordinating implementation of the Open Science strategy in close coordination with the Head of Open Science and the CIO office.

  • The section continues to coordinate/operate key projects and services including SCOAP3 and INSPIRE, and is preparing for Open Research Europe (ORE) as a major upcoming project.

  • 2026 objectives highlighted: support governance and strategy implementation; support key groups and topics (e.g. open data working group and other open-science-related bodies); develop monitoring of activities; and strengthen community engagement (communication plan, Open Science website updates, and identifying needs for a community engagement strategy).

  • Open access work in 2026 includes revising publisher agreements and reflecting on overall open access strategy; in parallel, preparation begins for the future of SCOAP3 beyond its current phase.

  • A key deliverable is structured support for data management and reuse (guidelines, materials, training), including establishing data stewardship capacity.

  • Open Research Europe: presented as a multidisciplinary open access platform with transparent peer review; from 2026 it becomes a collectively funded European initiative, and CERN will become host and operator from Q4 2026, with operations run by SIS and IT; editorial services will be outsourced.

  • Discussion clarified that ORE will be available to collaborations when eligibility criteria are met (at least one author affiliated with a funding country), and it is intended as an additional publication outlet, not a replacement for existing open-access journal routes.