A cost benefit analysis framework for Open Science
- 2025-09-16 11:00
- 11:30
- Room: 81/R-003B - Science Gateway Auditorium B
- Speaker:
- Gelsomina (Jessica) Catalano, , Gelsomina (Jessica) Catalano is a partner and senior expert at CSIL with more than15 years of experience contributing to complex evaluations, impact assessments, project appraisals, and research studies for EU institutions and international organisations (European Commission, European Parliament, European Investment Bank) covering different policy areas. She is specialised in the socio-economic impact assessment of large research infrastructures. She has contributed to developing a model for the assessment of costs and benefits of large research infrastructures in the frame of the research project ‘Cost/Benefit Analysis in the Research, Development and Innovation Sector’ sponsored by the EIB University Research Sponsorship programme. She contributed to the ex-post cost-benefit analysis of the Large Hadron Collider, to the mid-term evaluation of the Hi-Lumi-LHC and is currently contributing to the ex-ante socio economic impact assessment of the Future Circular Collider (on behalf of CERN). Over recent years, she has also been working for different research infrastructures (e.g., Italian Space Agency, CERN, ALBA synchrotrons, Diamond, Elixir) on the assessment of different impacts. She has been contributed to developing a model for assessing research infrastructures’ impacts pathways in the framework of the Horizon 2020 RI-PATHS project. She has coordinated the development of a cost benefit analysis framework of open science in the framework of Horizon Europe PathOS project and contributed to test it on the UniProt database and RCAAP repository. , CSIL, https://www.csilmilano.com/
Understanding the impacts of Open Science (OS) and the extent to which they materialise requires a solid methodological framework, which is not yet fully established. The Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) framework for OS - developed (part of the PathOS project) - aims to provide a systematic and comprehensive approach to quantifying the impacts of OS. This framework goes beyond simply evaluating benefits; it incorporates associated costs and enables meaningful comparisons with scenarios in which OS is not implemented.
This presentation will illustrate key elements of this framework, focusing on the types of costs (e.g.,set-up and maintenance costs) and benefits (e.g.,costs saved) specifically related to open science, and details the methodology to quantify these elements within the context of a CBA. Real-world applications of this framework will be used to offer practical insights into its utility and effectiveness. In particular, the presentation will draw on the use of the CBA to assess the value of:
UniProt, a widely used and freely accessible open database for protein sequence and functional information.
RCAAP, a network of open institutional repositories involving multiple Portuguese research institutions.
This presentation will show how the CBA framework can support policy and funding decisions and demonstrate the value of OS practices in research infrastructures. It will also shed light on the challenges that may arise when applying this framework and offer recommendations for potential mitigation strategies and actions. These insights are intended to enhance the utility of the framework as a valuable tool for the future evaluation of OS resources.