Open Research Forum: Guest post by Arushi Sharma, keynote speaker

We are delighted to introduce Arushi Sharma from Project SCOIR (Trinity College Dublin), who will be the keynote speaker at our next Open Research Forum: “University of Galway's Research Publishing Policy: Empowering our Research Community” on 20 May 2026. Please join us to hear Arushi, along with Claire O’Connor and Martin Leahy, followed by a light lunch.

Arushi Sharma is an Associate Researcher with Project SCOIR (Secondary rights, Copyright, Open access, Institutional policies, and Rights retention), where she has contributed to the development of the draft Research Outputs and Open Access Bill 2025. 

Arushi has also engaged in discussions with policymakers and presented on rights retention and open research policy in academic settings. She also served as Communications Officer for Project SCOIR, supporting national-level engagement on open research and rights retention. She is also a PhD researcher in Law at Trinity College Dublin, where her research focuses on data protection in the financial sector, with a comparative analysis of Irish and Indian legal frameworks.

How Ireland Is Crafting Its Own Path in Open Access: From Project SCOIR to a Changing Research Landscape

For years, the global shift toward Open Access to research publications has felt less like a sudden revolution and more like a slow, uneven tide. Different jurisdictions have moved at different speeds, shaped by their copyright traditions, legal cultures, funding structures, and institutional realities. Even within the European Union, where harmonisation is often the ambition, approaches to rights retention and secondary publishing rights vary significantly.

Ireland’s journey reflects this complexity. Rather than adopting a single model from elsewhere, Ireland has begun to craft a context-sensitive approach: one that combines legislative ambition, institutional policy, funder requirements, and practical support for researchers.

This blog traces that journey, from the comparative foundations of Project SCOIR to the wider developments now shaping open access in Ireland.

Looking Abroad: Why No Single Model Was Enough

When Ireland began exploring how to strengthen secondary publishing rights and rights retention, it became clear that there was no ready-made template to copy.

Across Europe, different models offered valuable lessons. Spain’s National Open Science Strategy has been described as a four-year plan to make publicly funded research openly available, supported by significant public investment. (Science Business) The Netherlands, through the Taverne Amendment, allows short scientific works funded wholly or partly by Dutch public funds to be made openly available after a reasonable period. (openaccess.nl) Bulgaria has gone further in recent years by introducing both a secondary publishing right and, later, a secondary publishing obligation, positioning itself as an important European example in this area. (Knowledge Rights 21)

These developments show the promise of legal reform, but they also reveal its difficulty. Open access rules must be carefully designed around each country’s copyright system, contract law, research funding structures, and institutional capacity. A secondary publishing right that works in one jurisdiction cannot simply be transplanted into another without adaptation.

Ireland’s Turning Point: From Strategy to Action

Ireland’s national direction has been shaped by the National Action Plan for Open Research, which sets out an ambition for 100% open access to research publications by 2030.  From this policy environment emerged Project SCOIR: Secondary rights, Copyright, Open access, Institutional policies, and Rights retention.

Project SCOIR is a two-year project funded by the National Open Research Forum. Its work supports the goal of 100% open access to publicly funded research publications through a two-pronged approach: developing a secondary publishing right for Ireland and creating an open access policy framework for institutions and funders. (Zenodo)

This is important because open access is not only a cultural issue. It is also a legal, institutional, and infrastructural problem. Researchers need rights. Institutions need workflows. Libraries need clear mandates. Funders need enforceable expectations. And the public needs access to the research it helps fund.

Project SCOIR and the Draft Research Outputs and Open Access Bill 2025

The draft Research Outputs and Open Access Bill 2025, developed through Project SCOIR, represents a major step in Ireland’s open access conversation. The draft Bill seeks to support the goal of 100% open access to publicly funded research by developing a secondary publishing right for Ireland. 

At its core, the Bill asks a simple but powerful question: should publicly funded research remain locked behind contractual barriers, or should researchers and institutions have a clear legal route to make it openly available?

The SCOIR model is not an anti-publisher intervention. It is a pro-access, pro-researcher, and pro-public value framework. It recognises that, in the absence of legal and institutional support, researchers may find themselves signing publication agreements that limit their ability to share their own work.

This is why rights retention matters. It shifts the starting point from asking permission after publication to retaining sufficient rights from the outset.

Recent Developments in Ireland: A System in Transition

Ireland’s open access landscape is now moving quickly. One of the most significant institutional developments is the University of Galway’s Research Publishing Policy. The policy requires authors to make research publications openly available immediately on acceptance through Green, Diamond, or Gold open access routes, unless an approved exception applies. It also requires the Author Accepted Manuscript or Version of Record to be deposited in the University of Galway Research Repository on acceptance with an open licence, such as Creative Commons (CC BY). 

The policy also includes a clear rights retention and licensing approach. To enable immediate open access, authors must retain sufficient rights, and staff grant the University a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide licence to make a version of their publications publicly available under an open licence. 

This is a significant development. University of Galway is not treating open access as an optional add-on, but as part of research publishing itself. It also provides practical support for researchers on rights retention, publisher agreements, repository deposit, versioning, and read-and-publish agreements. 

Nationally, Research Ireland’s Open Research Policy came into effect on 7 April 2025 and applies to research publications submitted for publication on or after that date. (Research Ireland) The policy supports immediate open access and aligns with the goals of Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research. 

At the same time, Ireland continues to rely in part on publisher agreements. Elsevier and IReL confirmed a three-year Read & Publish deal for 2026–2028, which gives participating institutions read access to Elsevier’s Freedom Collection journals and allows eligible articles to be published open access without the author paying an APC directly. However, the agreement includes an annual open access quota of only 1,450 articles, which means it remains a negotiated and limited route rather than a universal rights-based solution. 

This distinction matters. Read-and-publish agreements can be useful, but they are not the same as a legal right to make publicly funded research openly available. They depend on eligibility, institutional participation, article type, publisher terms, and available quotas.

Why Legislative Action Still Matters

These developments show that Ireland’s open access system is maturing. Institutions are embedding rights retention into policy. Funders are strengthening open research requirements. Libraries are building the practical support structures needed for researchers. Publisher agreements are providing some routes to open publishing. But the underlying challenge remains: open access is still too often dependent on contracts, negotiated deals, and institutional capacity.

This is where the SCOIR draft Bill remains vital. It moves the conversation from individual permission to structural entitlement. It demonstrates that Irish law can provide a clearer and more durable route to openness, and public access to publicly funded research doesn't have to depend on publisher discretion.

From Access to Ownership

At its core, the open access debate is not only about accessibility. It is about control, ownership, and public value.

Who has the right to share research?

Who benefits from publicly funded knowledge?

Who decides how knowledge circulates?

Ireland is now at an important moment. The National Action Plan has set the ambition. Research Ireland has strengthened the funder policy environment. University of Galway has shown institutional leadership through its Research Publishing Policy. IReL agreements provide transitional support. Project SCOIR’s draft Bill offers a legal route toward a more rights-based future.

Together, these developments suggest that Ireland is no longer simply following global open access trends. It is beginning to craft its own model: one that is legally aware, institutionally grounded, and oriented toward the public value of research.

The work is still ongoing. But the direction is clear. Publicly funded research should be publicly accessible, not as an exception, but as a structural norm. And that is why this moment matters.

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Join us to continue the conversation in person at the Open Research Forum on 20 May. Register here for catering purposes.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Jen Smith, Open Research Librarian.