The Computer Network Information Center (CNIC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Springer Nature signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on September 8 in Beijing to strengthen cooperation on open data.

The cooperation mainly revolves around open data, with various forms including reports, academic conferences, capacity building activities, communication and promotion, etc.

According to the MOU, the CNIC  and Springer Nature will jointly produce and release a white paper on open data focusing on China’s scientific research this year. The white paper will be released in November as part of the 2023 Open Data Status Report.

Two parties agreed to hold annual round table discussion on open data, explore training cooperation around open data, and collaborate on publishing peer-reviewed thematic collections for the Scientific Data Conference, the cross-domain academic conference among data practitioners organized by the Chinese National Committee for the Committee on Data of the International Science Council (CODATA).

Research data is a collection of files that produced from, and support scientific research and development challenges like SDGs, including spreadsheets, documents, images, videos. Public-funded research data should be open, accessible and reusable to accelerate scientific discovery and benefit society. Open data is a fundamental element of open science and a key factor in supporting research repeatability.

CAS has paid more attention to the implementation and promotion of open science recommendations in recent years, and has issued several rounds of policies to guide open data sharing, and encouraged researchers and data practitioners to participate in open science activities.

As one of the top international academic publishers, Springer Nature has rich practices in open science, and has released the annual Open Data Status Report for seven years.

"Open science is becoming an important development model and global consensus, and is the core component of open science," said Prof. ZHOU Yuanchun, deputy director of CNIC. With years of practical exploration in scientific data management and open data sharing, CNIC has formed several innovative platforms related to open science recommendations, from general-purpose e-infrastructures to services supporting the transition from data to knowledge.

"We believe that this cooperation can help more scientists understand and participate in open data practice, and jointly promote the development of the global open research data enterprise," ZHOU said.

CNIC and Springer Nature sign MoU for open data collaboration. (Image by CNIC)