Policy and legislation challenges for Open Science: Developments in Australia

This paper investigates the current state of Open Science policies in Australia, focusing on the governance of research data, specifically addressing the processing of personal data for scientific research purposes. The purpose is to un- derstand what challenges currently remain in order to best develop the governance of scientific research in light of Open Science principles. To do so, the study starts from the early phases of the development of Open Science, represented by the Open Access movement to scientific publications, up to the analysis of the Australian Data Availability and Transparency Act of 2022, proposing also a commentary on the proposed reforms regarding (i) privacy legislation; (ii) the issue of retention of research data; offering also (iii) a hint at the issue of copyright in relation to research data. From a methodological perspective, the paper is developed from direct engagement in the implementation of Australian Open Science policies and aims to provide an overview of the current situation