The EOSCpilot project has proposed the first recommendations for a minimal set of Rules of Participation for Service Providers and Users in EOSC, necessary for EOSC participation and function. The proposed organisational Rules of Participation for EOSC embrace the principles of openness, transparency and inclusiveness. They have been designed after deep analysis of widely accepted working practices in already established European infrastructures and organisations, and iterative consultations of EOSC Stakeholders.
The proposed Rules of Participation are also aligned with the Implementation Roadmap for the European Open Science Cloud published by the European Commission on March 14, 2018.
Recommended Rules of Participation for Service Providers
Main Rule of Participation for all Service Providers
The deliverable D2.5 outlines a main Rule of Participation for all EOSC service providers, complemented by a series of 7 specific requirements, which could be applied depending on the needs of each scientific field. The main rule is that “EOSC services shall be registered in an EOSC compliant or compatible service catalogue visible to the global EOSC gateway”. There are multiple service catalogues in each scientific community. It is recommended that service providers register their services to community accepted and supported catalogues.
Additional specific requirements
Key characteristics were identified, which inform the users and the EOSC governance on the function of the service: availability, functionality, maturity, support, terms of use, contractual framework, and the properties of the service: quality, performance, sustainability, access policies, data portability, and compatibility, among others. Service descriptive information must be provided to the catalogue(s) and publicly displayed to enable users to assess the characteristics and quality of the service, as well as those of the service providers. The proposed characteristics were distributed across seven specific requirements, as follows:
- Machine readable metadata: All services must be described in machine readable format and be identifiable by means of a common and persistent identification.
- Terms of Use and Policies: All EOSC services must have Terms of Use and other policies displayed publicly online and/or via the EOSC Service catalogue(s).
- Accessibility: EOSC Service Providers must describe how they ensure accessibility and interoperability, and provide information in the EOSC compatible service catalogue where they are registered, to allow for a more open market for users.
- Portability: Legal and technical infrastructures should enable the portability of data and services, as much as possible.
- Access costs and charging model: Service providers may apply user charges/fees, which could vary by type of service, type of service provider and location of users. This information must be made clear to users online and via the service catalogue(s).
- Quality of service: Service providers should adhere to a minimal set of quality guidelines that are being developed within the EOSCpilot project and the EOSC-hub project.
- Relation to users: Service providers should be transparent about the data management mechanisms they use to store-process-publish content, considering FAIRness and Reproducibility; Privacy and Security; and Easing usability.
Rule specific to Core Resources of EOSC
The Core Resources of EOSC are the “set of services and processes that are needed for EOSC operations to integrate and enable access to the various resources federated in the EOSC” (for example a central AAI, service registry, monitoring, helpdesk, enabling users´ feedback, among others). Once a service falls into this category, it must follow stricter rules both on the level of service provision (Service Level Agreements (SLAs)) and the interoperability aspects.
Suggested EOSC Rules of Participation for Users
Users are considered here as the end-users of services. Users’ Rules of Participation may be ultimately framed within the Terms of Use presented by the service providers.
Data sharing and sustainability
- It is recommended to use Data Management Plan tools as early in the process as possible. Such tools can produce machine readable outputs and are linked to EOSC infrastructures and services.
- Users should be encouraged to deposit data in community-recognised deposition data repositories providing the means for FAIRness and Openness.
- As per the “Combined Recommendations for the Embedding of Open Science” published by the European Commission’s Open Science Policy Platform, “individual researchers must consider openness the default position for their work, and Use standard identifiers for themselves (ORCID), their outputs (DOI) and their contributions (CRediT)”.
Acknowledgement of use of services accessed through the EOSC gateway
- If requested by the Terms of Use of the service provider, users accessing services through the EOSC gateway should acknowledge through citing in publications or other means the specific service or services that have enabled their research.