Mission Statement
The Open Research Funders Group (ORFG) is a partnership of funding organizations committed to the open sharing of research outputs and other forms of scholarship. This will benefit society by accelerating the pace of discovery, reducing information-sharing gaps, encouraging innovation, and promoting reproducibility. The ORFG speaks in an amplified voice, and engages a range of stakeholders to develop actionable principles and policies that enable sharing and collaboration across the global research enterprise.
Activities
The ORFG has two primary programmatic pillars: (1) engaging philanthropies in a community of practice to develop, implement, oversee, and advance strategies that accelerate access to funded research, including papers and data; and (2) serving as the funders’ voice in cross-sector discussions about open research policies, incentives, infrastructure, and good practices. For additional details on ORFG activities, please see this "cheat sheet".
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
Among the activities in which the ORFG is engaged are monthly member meetings; working groups focused on specific topics like policy compliance and data sharing; and briefings/analysis on emerging topics of interest in the open research space. Additionally, the ORFG has developed a suite of resources, including policy development tools, "open 101" FAQs, and a database of open science success stories.
The ORFG also oversees the Open & Equitable Model Funding Program, a coalition of 11 funders exploring tangible ways to make both the processes of grantmaking and the resulting research outputs more transparent, inclusive, and trustworthy. The program is supported with funding from Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Moore Foundation, and Rita Allen Foundation.
FUNDERS’ VOICE
The ORFG supports a range of cross-sector activities designed to harmonize, catalyze, and scale open research activities, notably:
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Aligning Incentives for Open Scholarship, a multiyear project bringing together senior leadership at universities, federal agencies, philanthropies, international bodies, and other organizations to rethink research evaluation and better incentivize openness. The ORFG serves as the operational lead for the Roundtable.
The Higher Education Leadership Initiative for Open Scholarship (HELIOS), a cohort of colleges and universities committed to collective action to advance open scholarship within and across their campuses. With a membership of nearly 100 US colleges and universities, HELIOS represents the largest, most carefully coordinated effort to align higher education practices with open scholarship values. HELIOS is co-chaired by the presidents of Arizona State University, Benedict College, and Johns Hopkins University, with Geeta Swamy, Duke’s Associate Vice President for Research and Vice Dean for Scientific Integrity, serving as strategic lead. HELIOS is organized by the ORFG, with funding from HHMI, John Templeton Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and Templeton World Charity Foundation.
The Alliance for Open Scholarship (All4OS), a diverse group of professional societies and associations that aspires to operationalize open scholarship, develop discipline-specific guidance, provide training on good practices, and align incentives to promote openness. All4OS is co-chaired by leaders from the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). Operational and strategic support is provided by the ORFG.
Structure
The Open Research Funders Group (ORFG) is an initiative of Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), which is a project of New Venture Fund (NVF), a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs.
The Open Research Funders Group has its genesis in an October, 2015, meeting convened by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and SPARC. This forum of open access stakeholders included representatives from more than 50 organizations. It offered a unique opportunity for participants to share experiences, concerns, strategies, and questions regarding open access and open data. For annual reports and other information, please visit our blog.
Disclaimer: The views, information, and opinions expressed by the ORFG represent our organizational stance and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any individual members.
Banner image courtesy of Nevit Dilmen,CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.