The University of Oklahoma joined the Higher Education Leadership Initiative for Open Scholarship (HELIOS) in fall 2022, becoming one of over 80 top-tier research universities and colleges across the United States to advance open scholarship via collective action.
“Membership in HELIOS is important because it brings together the primary research ecosystem actors to advance open scholarship,” said Karen Rupp-Serrano, University Libraries associate dean for scholarly communication and collection management. “Talking only to department chairs, or university administrators, or funders, is not sufficient. Representatives of all the key stakeholders are needed at the table to align values, practices and incentives.”
Seeking to advance open practices that make research available to the public in all disciplines to speed innovation, HELIOS emerged from the work of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s (NASEM) Roundtable on Aligning Incentives for Open Science that began in 2019.
The NASEM roundtable findings showed widespread support for open research practices, but current reward structures, such as tenure and promotion, do not incentivize it. HELIOS members will engage key stakeholders to modernize research practices, values and incentive structures so that openly available research receives commensurate recognition as other forms.
“Participation in HELIOS will enable OU to develop and advance open incentives and practices consistent with our institutional values and disciplinary norms,” said Senior Vice President and Provost André-Denis Wright.
Peggy V. Helmerich Dean of the University Libraries Denise Stephens will serve as OU’s representative to HELIOS and interact with research university, scholarly society and philanthropic cohort members, reporting key findings back to the university.
“Joining HELIOS marks an important step at the University of Oklahoma toward fostering a culture of open scholarship,” Stephens said. “I am looking forward to meeting with peers from other institutions, such as the Universities of Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina and others to promote collaboration and to advance open incentives and practices.”
About HELIOS
The Higher Education Leadership Initiative for Open Scholarship (HELIOS) is a cohort of colleges and universities, funders and scholarly societies committed to collective action to advance open scholarship across the research ecosystem. Leaders from U.S. colleges and universities have joined this community of practice, working together to promote a more transparent, inclusive and trustworthy research ecosystem.
What Is “Open Scholarship"?
Open scholarship (sometimes called “open science” or “open research”) is an expansive term that encompasses a range of practices intended to increase the openness of knowledge creation and dissemination across disciplines. These practices include open access publishing, open licensing, open data, open educational resources and more. Open scholarship promotes inclusivity, transparent and trustworthy research, innovation and collaboration.
About Open Initiatives at the University of Oklahoma
The University Libraries supports a range of Open @ OU services, including the SHAREOK institutional repository, open educational resources initiatives and open access journal hosting. University Libraries also supports OU faculty and students through publication subvention funding, open access publishing discounts and an Alternative Textbook Grant.
University Libraries is coordinating numerous events in recognition of open access and open research practices this academic year, including a virtual panel discussion on November 18th in celebration of International Education Week. Find more information about that event here.
