OSTrails · Open Science Plan-Track-Assess Pathways

OSTrails aims to advance processes and instruments for Planning, Tracking, and Assessing scientific knowledge production beyond state-of-the art, working with various national and thematic contexts, improving existing infrastructure, and connecting key components. For the Plan stage, OSTrails aims to increase the efficacy of Data Management Plans, turning them from static narratives to living, interconnected “machine actionable” resources, making them the instrument of choice for improving quality of RDM. For the Track stage, OSTrails is set to establish an open, interoperable and high-quality ecosystem of Scientific Knowledge Graphs, enriching them to become evidence of communities’ FAIR implementations. For the Assess stage, OSTrails aims to deliver modular and extendable FAIR tests, towards “machine actionable” metrics, complemented by user guidance embedded in tools assisting any stage of research life cycle. Presented as the OSTrails Commons, the resulting methods, tools, services, guidance & training form the necessary building blocks to provide end-to-end solutions that serve: (i) researchers and research support personnel realise FAIR at any stage of the research life cycle, for any digital object; and (ii) research funding organisations, research performing organisations, publishers to drive the improvement of the quality of RDM for any shared, funded and published research product. OSTrails will lower the barriers to plan and practice FAIR research, moving the dial from FAIR assessment to FAIR assisting practice; also, to enhance traceability and improve evidence-based evaluation of research via a more networked scholarship. OSTrails is deeply rooted in the work of 38 partners, 22 research performing organisations, 5 ESFRI Clusters, and 24 pilots, acknowledging that there is no one-size-fits-all solution and that different national and thematic infrastructures have varying goals and priorities, as well as approaches to streamlining FAIR.