In January 2020, the multidisciplinary Team for Open Science in Serbia (TONuS) was established by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development as a dedicated body that would guide the implementation of Open Science principles at the national level. The establishment of TONuS was meant as the initial step in creating a National Open Science Cloud Initiative (NOSCI) in Serbia. After a delay during 2020, caused by the pandemic, the activities of TONuS were resumed in 2021.
On 1 March 2021, a hybrid meeting of the Team was hosted by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. The meeting featured a series of brief reports about activities in the area of Open Science in Serbia implemented in 2020 by various subgroups within TONuS. After a general overview of recent developments (Biljana Kosanović), the reports covered the policies of Open Access to research infrastructures (Prof. Miroslav Trajanović, University of Niš), the establishment of the Data Centre Serbia for Social Sciences (Dr. Aleksandra Bradić Martinović, Institute of Economic Sciences); local developments in the areas of FAIR data and Research Data Management (Dr. Nadica Miljković, University of Belgrade – Faculty of Electrical Engineering). Special attention was paid to the NI4OS-Europe project: Dr. Antun Balaž presented the aims and achievements of the project, as well as the concept of NOSCI.
During the discussion, it was decided to (1) include new members in TONuS and (2) to establish closer collaboration with the Fund for Science, the Innovation Fund and the Association of Serbian Institutes; (3) to form a group of institutions interested in Open Science and participation in EOSC as the core of the NOSCI in Serbia; (4) to devise an organization scheme of relevant bodies and a plan of future Open Science activities in Serbia.