Open virtual infrastructures
Open virtual infrastructures are digital systems, services, and resources that support open science throughout the research process. These infrastructures make it possible to preserve, find, access, reuse, analyse, and connect research outputs such as publications, data, and software. For such infrastructures to support open science requires access and interoperability as well as long-term sustainability, inclusiveness, and governance that reflects the needs of research communities and society.
Virtual infrastructures cover different parts of the research process and scholarly communication. Examples include
- repositories for publications, research data, and source code
- open-access publication platforms
- virtual research environments (VREs), collaborative software platforms, and other digital research services
- computational and data-analysis services, including high-performance computing (HPC), cloud computing, and data storage.
An important function of virtual infrastructures is to enable information and services from different sources to work together. This requires interoperability between infrastructures and the use of common standards. Persistent identifiers, such as DOI for research outputs, ORCID for researchers, and ROR for research organisations, help identify and link digital objects, people, organisations and other parts of the research process.
The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is an example of a virtual infrastructure that is being developed as a federation. It connects existing repositories, research infrastructures and other services so that data, tools, and services can be used for research across disciplines and national borders in Europe. The initiative also seeks to promote data sharing, improve transparency and reproducibility in research, and facilitate transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Virtual infrastructures depend on organisations, expertise, and sustainable resources. Libraries, IT services, research data support, and other specialist functions contribute to their development, operation and use. Systematic long-term investment in technical infrastructure as well as the human resources needed to maintain it is necessary. Open science infrastructures are often non-commercial, with a strong basis in the researcher community.
Open virtual infrastructures should be designed for different research fields and different groups of users. For instance, UNESCO stresses that data infrastructures should serve disciplines equitably regardless of the volume or nature of their data, and that services should be adapted to users' research practices and needs. Accessibility, multilingualism, and international cooperation are also important, as are transparent costs and funding models.