On May 28–29, 2025, the fifth Workshop on Open Citations & Open Scholarly Metadata (WOOC2025) took place in Bologna, Italy. The event was co-organized by the University of Bologna, the OpenCitations initiative, and the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information.

Representatives of the State Scientific and Technical Library of Ukraine (SSTL of Ukraine), a signatory of the Barcelona Declaration, took part in the event. This participation reflects Ukraine’s ongoing integration into the European open science space and demonstrates its commitment to transparency, openness, and the sustainability of scholarly information infrastructure, despite the ongoing Russian aggression.

The first day was dedicated to the Bologna meeting of the signatories of the Barcelona Declaration. Discussions focused on the outcomes of the Paris Conference and the next steps, including the work plans of thematic working groups on:

• research funding metadata;
  
• replacing closed systems with open solutions;
  
• evaluating open data sources;
  
• metadata for scholarly articles and books;
  
• institutional repositories, preprints, and research data.
  

The second day focused on invited talks, lightning presentations, and a poster session. Notable speakers included Katherine Skinner (Invest in Open Infrastructure) and Arianna Becerril-García (Redalyc/AmeliCA), who shared insights into the development of open infrastructures in different regions of the world.

Why is this important for Ukraine?

SSTL of Ukraine’s participation in WOOC2025 demonstrates that the Ukrainian scholarly community is an active contributor to the global dialogue on open research information. It opens new opportunities for:

• integration with international initiatives such as OpenAIRE, OpenCitations, and DataCite;
  
• implementing FAIR data principles in national information systems, particularly the URIS system;
  
• strengthening science diplomacy through openness and data transparency;
  
• attracting international support for rebuilding research infrastructure damaged by the war.
  

The Barcelona Declaration, signed by SSTL of Ukraine in 2024, marked a significant step in transforming Ukraine’s science and research information policy in alignment with leading European practices.