The 10th edition of the international Open Science Conference (virtual) will take place from June 27th to 29th. The conference provides a forum for researchers, librarians, practitioners, infrastructure providers and policy-makers to discuss the latest developments in Open Science. At the conference, practical and technical innovations will be presented in lectures and workshops. The conference is organized by the Leibniz Strategy Forum for Open Science under the auspices of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics.

This year, the team of Open Make. Towards Open and FAIR Hardware from Freie Universität, Humboldt-Universität and Technische Universität will be present with a workshop to discuss the topic of Open Research Hardware (June 28th). The project is funded by Objective 3 since 2021. For those interested, the conference participation fee (50€) can be reimbursed from project funds.

Creating a Research Hardware Publication Ecosystem: Technical and Cultural Roadmap

Julien Colomb (HU Berlin), Moritz Maxeiner (FU Berlin), Robert Mies (TU Berlin)

(Abstract) Research hardware represents a physical artifact and may incorporate mechanical, electrical, and even software components. It is an inherent part of research, together with research data and research software. However, while the latter have been recognized as research outputs by funders and institutions (leading to for example to the creation of novel career paths in academia), research hardware has been mostly overlooked in discussions about open science so far. There is also no specific publication pathway or specific repositories for hardware documentation. During the last year, the Open.Make project collected stories about the researcher perspective on hardware publication. They combined this knowledge with the work of the FAIR for research hardware RDA interest group and experience in hardware engineering to propose a hardware publication system.

In this workshop, we want to discuss this proposition with professionals in scholarly communication, institutions and political influencers. We want to discuss a roadmap for the creation of a research hardware publication ecosystem, which would be a first step into the recognition of research hardware as an independent research ouptut. After a general introduction, we will split in four breakout rooms to discuss (1) the technical aspects of a publication platform, (2) the evaluation process (peer review), (3) the sustainability and commercial aspect, and (4) the development of incentives and recognition for the hardware engineers and makers. See https://www.openmake.de/blog/2023/05/11/2023-05-11-workshop-at-the-open-science-conference/ for more information.