Iowa State joins HELIOS, open science community of practice

With a commitment from President Wendy Wintersteen, Iowa State University is now a member of Higher Education Leadership Initiative for Open Scholarship (HELIOS). The work of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Aligning Incentives for Open Science led to the creation of this community of practice around open science. The HELIOS initiative launched earlier this year and has over 80 current college and university members.

Members of HELIOS are committed to collective action and are working together to develop actionable policies, resources, metrics, and infrastructure to advance open scholarship. The August 25, 2022, memo from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced updated guidance to make federally funded research freely available to the public upon publication. This will require that Iowa State facilitate publication and data management for our faculty, staff, and students engaged in federally funded research.

Iowa State benefits from HELIOS membership as we continue to advance open scholarship locally. When our campus Data Sharing Task Force wrapped up its work before the pandemic, it recommended that Iowa State initiate a campus level open scholarship initiative to ensure our continued progress in areas such as open access, reproducibility, and data sharing. HELIOS is such an open scholarship initiative and would provide continuity and facilitate our progress. It comes with the added benefit of being able to work together with a cohort of similar minded institutions.

The commitment from the Office of the President is reflected in support for the university becoming a HELIOS member and encouraging continued campus engagement and effort. James Reecy, associate vice president for research, and Curtis Brundy, associate university librarian, will serve as campus representatives to take part in the community of practice and work with the Research Leadership Council for input and continuity of practice.

Contacts

Curtis Brundy, associate university librarian, 203 Parks Library, 515-294-7563
James Reecy, associate vice president, 2810 Beardshear, 515-294-6344
M. Monica Gillen, communications specialist, 373 Parks Library, 515-294-1442