Data ever more Open at CERN
"CERN announced a new open data policy, in line with the open science principles which aims to make scientific research more reproducible, accessible, and collaborative "
The four main LHC collaborations (ATLAS, CMS, ALICE and LHCb) have unanimously endorsed a new open data policy, committing to publicly releasing data approximately five years after collection. The data from now on released (so-called level 3 scientific data) can contribute to research in particle physics, as well as in scientific computing, for example to improve reconstruction or analysis methods based on machine learning techniques, and can be used by a diversity of groups (and for a diversity of purposes): non-CERN scientists, scientists in other fields, educational and outreach initiatives, and the general public. The software and documentation required to use the data will also be shared. As a member of ATLAS and CMS, LIP is part of this new agreement.
The new policy addresses the growing movement of open science, which aims to make scientific research more reproducible, accessible, and collaborative, which LIP is also committed to. It also covers the release of datasets of level 1 ( supporting information of results published in scientific articles) and level 2 (designed for educational and outreach purposes), of which samples are already available. Datasets will be released through the CERN Open Data Portal, which already hosts a comprehensive set of data related to the LHC and other experiments. Data will be available using FAIR standards, a set of data guidelines that ensure the data are findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-usable.
This strategy complements CERN’s existing Open Access policy, which mandates that all CERN research results are published in open access. It is also aligned with the recent European Strategy for Particle Physics Update announced in June 2020. CERN previously pioneered Open Access to scientific literature with the SCOAP3 consortium, a global partnership of libraries, funding agencies and research institutions from 46 countries and intergovernmental organisations, which is now the largest open access initiative in the world. Portugal is represented in the consortium by FCCN, the FCT unit responsible the Portuguese scientific open access platform RCAAP. In addition, CERN collaborates with many organisations, such as the European Commission and UNESCO, on its efforts to promote open science practices beyond particle physics.