Open science has firmly established itself as one of the most significant transformations in the global scientific system. It actively promotes the accessibility, reusability, and transparency of publicly funded research results, greatly strengthening academic collaboration and the democratization of knowledge.
Currently, this essential vision has been promoted by the National Research and Development Agency (ANID) through its Open Access Policy, which seeks to have all Chilean universities make their research publications available in interoperable repositories.
This policy has directly led to the creation of Espacio Ciencia, a recently launched national platform that efficiently collects and organizes scientific output in a digital, open-access format, allowing anyone to easily access the valuable knowledge generated by various Chilean universities. This collaborative space seeks to strengthen the visibility of national research and promote the crucial interoperability between the country's various institutional repositories.
In this vein, the University of Santiago de Chile (Usach) is actively participating in the initiative through its Data, Statistics, and Systems Unit of the Vice-Rectorate for Research, Innovation, and Creation (Vriic), in close collaboration with the Library Department of the Academic Vice-Rectorate, contributing to the integration and availability of the institution's scientific knowledge within this vital network.
The main task, led by the Usach Vice-Rector's Office for Research, Innovation, and Creation to integrate into Espacio Ciencia, consisted of adjusting the institutional metadata schemes so that they could interoperate correctly with ANID's technical guidelines. “We worked on configuring our own Scientific Information System (SIC Usach), which currently brings together more than 10,000 publications since 2011, of which 960 have already been identified as available in open access,” explained Tania Aldunate, Scientific Information Manager at Vriic. “This not only allows us to generate greater visibility for our research, but also allows society to readily access the results of academic work that is financed with public funds,” she added.
In practical terms, interoperability is achieved through open communication protocols, the configuration of standard metadata, and the identification of open access publications, allowing different devices and systems to interact without proprietary restrictions and, in this case, allowing metadata (descriptive information about scientific publications) to be automatically harvested by the national platform. In this way, Espacio Ciencia can effectively collect, index, and connect information from the repositories of all participating universities.
In this regard, the Vice-Rector for Research, Dr. Maritza Páez, referred to this milestone as important for the academic community, who must be active participants in this in relation to their commitment as a public institution. “With Espacio Ciencia, we reaffirm our institutional commitment to the democratization of knowledge and open access. This project allows citizens to freely access the results of publicly funded scientific research,” said the Vice-Rector (S).
Usach's participation in Espacio Ciencia is part of the signing of the second Memorandum of Understanding of the National Infrastructure for Access to Scientific Information (INA), an important alliance between the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (Cruch), the Corporation of Private Universities (CUP), Cincel, and ANID. In this network, the Rector of Usach, Dr. Rodrigo Vidal, chairs Cincel, while Sergio Ulloa, Head of the Library Department, is a member of the technical advisory committee for content selection.
“Joining the system represents a strategic advance in the promotion of open science and equitable access to knowledge. In addition to strengthening the visibility of Usach research, it will increase opportunities for collaboration and funding between national and international researchers,” explained Rodrigo Orellana, Head of the Data, Statistics, and Systems Unit of the Vice-Rector’s Office for Innovation, Research, and Creation at Usach.
Finally, he stressed that the main challenge today is to move toward a culture of open research “where publications and data are available without barriers, fostering collaboration and transparency,” and emphasized that this open access not only amplifies the visibility of researchers, “but also drives new academic partnerships and greater social impact.”
You can visit the Espacio Ciencia platform at: https://espaciociencia.cl/