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Depending on the evaluation procedure, project proposals are submitted to Open Science experts selected from the swissuniversities Reviewers' Pool. These experts evaluate the project proposals and provide a recommendation to the Delegation Open Science. The Delegation decides whether or not to support a project.

Reviewers' Pool

The swissuniversities Open Science Reviewers' Pool was created for the evaluation of projects submitted to the Open Science Programme. External reviewers with qualifications in OA/ORD were recruited through open tenders in 2020 and 2022. The applications were reviewed by a selection committee. The Delegation Open Science decided on the recruitment and selected the Chair of the Reviewers’ Pool.

The Reviewers’ Pool is composed of around 60 reviewers who are, among others, postdoc researchers, professors, librarians, IT-specialists, data stewards, or policy officers with expertise in open science. Currently, roughly half of the reviewers are women and half of the reviewers work at institutions based abroad. The names of the experts in the Reviewers’ Pool can be accessed here. 

Evaluation Procedure of Proposals

The evaluation procedure is managed by the General Secretariat of swissuniversities and consists of 4 stages: 

1. Formal Check

Each proposal first undergoes a formal review which is carried out by the General Secretariat of swissuniversities. In this step, the General Secretariat assures that the proposals are complete, submitted by eligible institutions, respect PgB rules as defined in the Higher Education Act (HEdA), and are in accordance with the formal requirements published in the respective application guidelines.

2. Individual Review of the Proposal

Once the formal check has been completed, each proposal is sent to two external reviewers from the Reviewers’ Pool. The reviewers are selected on the basis of their respective expertise and particular background in relation to the proposed project. A check for possible conflict of interest is carried out at this stage; in the event of such a conflict of interest, the reviewers are excluded from the review process.

Each reviewer then individually assesses the proposed project and sends their evaluation to the General Secretariat of swissuniversities. The evaluation criteria for each call for proposals are provided in the respective application guidelines.

3. Consolidated Evaluation of the Proposal

After receiving each individual review, the General Secretariat of swissuniversities brings together the two reviewers responsible for assessing a particular proposal. At this stage, the two reviewers discuss the proposed project and exchange their views on the project's eligibility regarding the guidelines and its suitability for funding. The reviewers then submit their consolidated evaluation to the General Secretariat of swissuniversities.

4. Evaluation Workshop

As a fourth step in the evaluation process, the General Secretariat of swissuniversities organises an evaluation workshop which is chaired by the President of the Reviewers' Pool and attended by all reviewers involved in the call for proposals. Prior to the workshop, all participating reviewers are provided with all proposals and reviews of the call. During the evaluation workshop, the responsible reviewers present their consolidated evaluations. The reviewers discuss and defend their respective recommendations. In this stage, all reviewers review each proposal and formulate a joint recommendation to the Delegation Open Science. 

Decision

The funding decision for the proposals is taken by the Delegation Open Science based on the reviewers’ recommendations. The Delegation can decide to fund a project without conditions, stipulate conditions which must be fulfilled before the project start or during the project, give advice on the implementation of the project, or decline to fund a project. Decisions are then communicated to the project applicants.