With the world leading to globalization, open science has become an important vision and a tool. It considerably improves the quality, efficiency and responsiveness of research, at the same time making its results more rapidly available and assisting in the establishment and development of scientific networks. Yet, there are barriers, among them language issues or the lack of necessary technologies, etc. which considerably hinder the process. At the same time, a vast number of European initiatives are spreading the idea of open science and its role and importance, especially for the small states.

The panel discussion presents recent trends in open science in Armenia and discusses these developments in relation to open science processes in a sample of European countries, e.g. Austria, Germany.  It is the third and final session of the unconference open science in educational research, which follows two interactive bottom-up workshops. 

The session will start with a presentation from Shushanik Sargsyan on the open science movement and its dissemination in Armenia, the current state of art of open science in this country and regulations and policies of the concerned institutions and bodies towards the concept and the ways of its realization. Although some parts of the research cycle have had some open access elements before, such as open access publications, the idea is considerably new and needs further dissemination, regulation, and adjustments. Furthermore, the presentation will turn to the role and importance of open science in the internalization of “national sciences”. Within this framework, the impact of the internationalization of science on the individual scientists, research institutions and the state will be addressed.

Finally, national and international scientific-information databases will be presented and discussed in the framework of open science policy. The Armenian national scientific database (Center for Scientific Information Analysis and Monitoring, Armenian Science Citation Index (ASCI)) functions as an open system with the main aim to disseminate the scientific outcomes of Armenian researchers and connect them to the world. In contrast with other national and international scientific databases, the idea behind the ASCI is its openness. As a conclusion, the role of open scientific systems and tools in the promotion and internationalization of science will be addressed and evaluated.

The second input by Hrachya Astsatryan focusses on “Data and Distributed Computing Infrastructures for Open Science in Armenia and beyond in South East Europe”. These infrastructures provide scientists capacities for large-scale simulations and data processing to conduct research and foster innovation. European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) ecosystem federates research data infrastructures and links data and interoperable services to support open science in Europe and beyond. The infrastructure enables researchers to store, share, process, and reuse digital objects across Europe and scientific disciplines. The National Initiatives for Open Science (NI4OS) in Europe provides integrated solutions to support EOSC Government and engage the regional research communities in South East Europe. The presentation will give an overview of related activities in Armenia and beyond in the region. Armenia's research computing and data ecosystem will be presented, delivering on-demand cost-effective resources and services to research communities. Furthermore, the different approaches of NI4OS, including policy, services, community engagement, and  training elements, will be discussed.

The two presentations will be rounded up by a discussion addressing country-specific perspectives. Scientists from Austria and Germany are invited to compare the input from Armenia with open science trends in their respective countries. Thereby, the focus will be on the developments in educational research and the adjustments to its heterogeneous research communities. The panel will thus point to similarities as well as to differences when comparing geographical regions and considering open science trends in Europe.

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