Impact of the Skills4EOSC Project on Bulgarian Open Science

Open Science (OS) is a global movement that transforms the way research is conducted, shared, and utilised by promoting transparency, accessibility, and collaboration. Bulgaria has embraced these principles by implementing policies and practices aligned with European frameworks to facilitate Open Access, FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data management, and collaborative research infrastructures. As a member of the European Open Science Cloud Steering Board, Bulgaria showcases its commitment to building a European ecosystem for OS. It urges national research communities to engage in European initiatives such as Openaire, NI4OS-Europe and Skills4eosc. These initiatives seek to establish the foundations of OS by sharing scientific knowledge products (research articles, data, and software) and actively participating in the process of knowledge production (citizen science, crowdsourcing). This paper presents Bulgaria's participation in the Skills4EOSC project, the benefits of the project for advancing Open Science in Bulgaria, and its contribution to the country's integration into the European Research Area.