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Open access to scholarly publications, Policy component for open access to journal and conference articles, Open education and educational resources, open access to scholarly publications. National policy and executive plan by the higher education and research community for 2021–2025: Policy component for open access to theses

Introduction

Openness is a part of responsible research. Openness is one of the core values of science and research. The objective of immediate open access to researched information is to improve the quality of science and increase its social impact. The policy for open access to scholarly publications was created to serve these primary objectives of research.

This policy is a powerful statement in favour of openness in the Finnish research community for the next five years.

The objective of the policy is to guarantee that the research community and those applying research information in practice have access to researched information in a way that has never before been possible. The policy of open access to scholarly publications defines the principles, objectives and actions. By committing and promoting these the research community in Finland can achieve equal access to researched information. The current culture of publishing does not treat parties equally and the costs are not distributed fairly. At the same time, many research organisations can no longer afford to pay for access to key scholarly publications.

This policy is applicable in all research fields and in diverse research organisations. The efforts of independent organisations to increase open access are supported through the policy’s actions and principles.

Freedom of the researcher

This policy is a result of collaboration within the Finnish research community, constituting a shared view of the direction open access to scholarly publications should take. Its goal is to achieve open access in a way that supports and increases the researcher’s freedom and opportunities to share researched information. The researcher’s duty is to conduct research of the best possible quality. Researchers should primarily be able to choose a publication channel that best suits their work. The research community should guarantee the incentives and structures for open scholarly publishing in a way that supports the work and equality of researchers. This policy guarantees that Finnish researchers will be competitive in the international arena and ensures that they will not be faced with contradictory requirements between career rewards and open access.

International transformation

Fundamentally, this policy aligns with the international developments and existing policies. In particular, the recommendations of the Open Science Policy Platform, the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), the Competitiveness Council’s decision in 2016 that all scientific publications should be openly accessible by 2020, the OA2020 Initiative, the European Commission’s objectives for open access, and Plan S for research funders (2019) are shaping the future of open access on the international stage.

With this policy, the key research organisations located in Finland are making a commitment to promoting open access to research in Europe and aiming to be at the forefront of promoting open access.

The development of open access is closely connected with a wider transformation taking place in research, which is changing funding structures and roles in the scientific publishing field as well as the way researchers are rewarded. The principles and objectives of this policy on open access to scholarly publications both reflect and further this transformation. This policy can only be applied if the operating culture of the research community is transformed at the same time. For this reason, this policy refers to other policies and recommendations and emphasises the close connections between them.

Risks and threats

This policy involves identified risks. Researchers in different research fields have been worried about the lack of high-quality openly accessible publication channels and about the unrealistic timetables. These concerns are understandable.

In particular, the unwillingness of large international publishers to negotiate reasonably priced agreements for achieving immediate open access is a real threat. Likewise, the publishing costs paid by the research organisations, when acquiring material, should not increase to an extent that the cost weakens the financial position of the organisations, leaving them unable to afford other means of supporting open access.

During the transition phase, there is also a risk that the overall costs will increase and researchers will have fewer opportunities to publish their research in their preferred channel. It may also become more difficult to determine overall costs if the payment of fees is left to individual researchers – as a result, actual costs could increase unnoticed. Increasing costs could reduce equal opportunities for researchers to publish their work with open access. At the same time, changing structures call for a major dialogue on the direction and responsibilities of funding, also in the case of Finnish publications.

Principles

Principle 1: Cost management

The total cost for scholarly publications will not exceed the current overall cost when transitioning to open access. The estimate of overall costs reflects all present costs and the total volume of research.

Ensuring the realisation and monitoring of the principle:

• Review of the initial situation: During 2020 the Finnish National Library will conduct an assessment in cooperation with the research organisations to estimate the overall cost of open access to scholarly publications for the research organisations. Additionally, the Finnish National Library will estimate the cost of open access for Finnish scientific publishers. The review will account for the costs of open access that have already been incurred.
• Continuous monitoring: The Finnish National Library will annually monitor the overall costs of access to scholarly publications and changes in the cost structure in cooperation with the research organisations.

Principle 2: Equal opportunity to publish

All researchers have an equal opportunity to publish their research through open access, regardless of field of research, funding basis, or career stage.

Ensuring the realisation and monitoring of the principle:

• Review of the initial situation: During 2020, the Open Science Coordination will review the specific challenges related to equal opportunities.
• Continuous monitoring: The Open Science Coordination will monitor developments in equal opportunities in cooperation with the research organisations, and will initiate dialogue on ways to increase equal opportunities.

Principle 3: Independent assessment

When assessing scholarly publications, the quality and openness of individual research publications are considered independently.

Ensuring the realisation and monitoring of the principle:

• Review of the initial situation: During 2020, there will be a review on how open access to publications is currently taken into account in the systems for assessing researchers at higher education institutions and other research organisations.
• Continuous monitoring: Coordination of a regular review of how open access to publications is taken into account in the systems for evaluating researchers at higher education institutions and research organisations.

  a) The Publication Forum will monitor the open access publication channels and impact of open access on the average level of quality of the publication channels.

  b) The Responsible Evaluation of Researchers recommendation defines in more detail the importance of open of research practices in researcher assessment.Publications-footnote-1

Principle 4: Dynamic assessment

The assessment of researchers and research takes into account new and changing forms of publishing reflecting open science.

Ensuring the realisation and monitoring of the principle:

• Review of the initial situation: During 2020, a review will be conducted of how new forms of open scholarly publishing are taken into account in the systems for evaluating researchers and research at higher education institutions and other research organisations.
• Continuous monitoring: There will be regular reviews of how new forms of open scholarly publishing are taken into account in the systems for evaluating researchers and research at higher education institutions and research organisations.

  a) Research organisations and research funders commit to taking open access into account in their evaluations. The Responsible Evaluation of Researchers recommendation defines research outputs, including data and research methods, open access and evaluation in more detail. More details on open access to research material are outlined in a separate policy.

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Opening up education or Open Education means extending access to and participation in education to larger audiences and target groups by lowering barriers to education and increasing accessibility, unrestrictedness, offering and learner-centeredness. It diversifies the possibilities of teaching, learning and building, joint development and sharing of knowledge and combines the pathways of formal and nonformal learning. Although open education is often carried out using digital technologies, open education is not the same as digital education or digitalisation of educational resources.