It was only in the mid-1990s that Digital Libraries became a research topic in Europe. The European Union was then instrumental in supporting and promoting the subject. One key element of that support was the establishment of the DELOS Network of Excellence. Its central role in the development of digital libraries in the period 1997-2007 in Europe and its contributions areoutlined in this paper.
Open Access and Open Scholarship are substantially changing the way scholarly artefacts are evaluated, published and assessed, while the introduction of new technologies and media in scientific workflows has changed the "how and to whom" science is communicated, and how stakeholders interact with the scientific community. OpenUP addresses key aspects and challenges of the currently transforming science landscape. Its main objectives are to: (i) identify and determine new mechanisms, processes and tools for the peer-review of all types of research results (publications, data, software, processes, etc.); (ii) explore, identify and classify innovative dissemination mechanisms with an outreach aim towards businesses and industry, education, and society as a whole; (iii) analyse and identify a set of novel indicators that assess the impact of research results and correlate them to channels of dissemination. OpenUP is engaged with research communities from life sciences, social sciences, energy, arts and humanities, implementing a series of hands-on pilots to assess and verify the proposed new mechanisms for the cycle review-disseminate-assess, to understand how these mechanisms correspond to the requirements and needs of the research communities. The final outcome of the project will be a set of concrete, practical, validated policy recommendations and guidelines for all stakeholders, namely academia, industry and government institutions.
