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Transparent research has a greater impact
19.10.2026 Mid-October, universities around the world are celebrating Open Access Week 2026. The PIONEER University Alliance demonstrates how open access to data and research findings enhances the impact of research.
Key points at a glance
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Open Science (OS) promotes free access to research results, data, methods, and educational resources.
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It aims to increase the impact of research by making it more accessible, transparent, and reusable.
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The PIONEER university alliance strategically leverages OS to foster collaboration among its universities and with external partners.
Transparent research has a greater impact
The concept of Open Access is based on the principle of making research findings freely accessible on the internet, rather than in subscription-based journals and databases. Starting in the early 2000s, this principle has been increasingly applied in science. In particular, efforts have intensified across Europe over the past ten years. The idea behind it is simple: research findings produced with public funding should be available to everyone, without barriers such as expensive journal subscriptions, which place a heavy burden on the budgets of libraries and universities.
About Gernot Pruschak
Gernot Pruschak is a professor of Applied Data Science at the Institute for Applied Data Science & Finance, which is part of Bern University of Applied Sciences’ Business School. He completed his doctoral studies in Economic and Social Sciences at RWTH Aachen University in February 2021. Prior to that, he studied Business Administration at the University of Vienna.
His research is situated at the intersection of open innovation, leadership and higher education management. In addition, he is a strong advocate for research ethics and integrity and open science.
In his teaching, he places a particular emphasis on scientific methods as well as business and data analytics.
“The discourse has broadened from Open Access to Open Science,” explains Gernot Pruschak, professor of Applied Data Science at Bern University of Applied Sciences. In this broader understanding of Open Science, not only research findings but also the underlying data, methods, teaching and learning materials should be made openly accessible. “Open science is an important prerequisite for effective and efficient collaboration between higher education institutions,” adds the Doctor of Economics.
Open Science Survey Across the University Alliance
BFH has been an active member of the European university alliance PIONEER since 2022, with the objective of strengthening this collaboration. The alliance comprises 10 European higher education institutions committed to developing sustainable, safe and resilient cities. It encompasses inter-university research projects on urban planning, mobility and energy, including collaborations with local authorities and businesses. “Such partners often do not have access to academic libraries and expensive publisher databases. It is therefore important that our publications are available in publicly accessible repositories,” stresses Gernot Pruschak.
With BFH researchers Christian Hopp and Xiangrui Zeng, he investigated the extent to which Open Science is practiced within the PIONEER Alliance. Together, they evaluated the number of open access publications, conducted interviews with the Open Science coordinators at all ten higher education institutions and analysed their open science approaches. The aim was to identify best practices and knowledge carriers in order to learn more from one another and further advance Open Science across the PIONEER Alliance.
BFH Achieves a Strong Ranking
The findings of the report are not yet final, but Gernot Pruschak can already reveal this much: “Higher education institutions within the alliance include true pioneers of open science, and BFH ranks well in the upper middle range.” BFH sets an exemplary standard in terms of the support it provides to staff through its own Open Science Office, as well as the infrastructure comprising dedicated repositories for publications and data. However, the findings suggest that BFH can still learn from other PIONEER higher education institutions, in particular in terms of embedding Open Science more firmly in staff mindsets and viewing Open Science as an integral part of both teaching and research.
Gernot Pruschak is convinced that Open Science will help PIONEER make a significant contribution, together with public institutions, NGOs and businesses, toward creating more sustainable, resilient and liveable cities. He regards his study as an important step in that direction. “To my knowledge, our survey on open science is the first of its kind in a European university alliance. I highly recommend this approach to all other university alliances.”
PIONEER Alliance
The PIONEER University Alliance comprises ten European universities. It receives funding from the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme as part of the European Universities initiative. Swiss universities participating in the initiative are funded separately through Movetia. PIONEER is committed to developing innovative solutions for sustainable, resilient and liveable cities (SDG 11) through collaboration among its partner institutions. The focus is on topics such as mobility, energy, digitalisation, health and social inclusion.
