Open research data and methods

Policy objective

Research data and methods are as open as possible and as closed as necessary. The data is managed appropriately with the aim of implementing the FAIR principles1. Research methods and research data are identified as independent research outputs.

Introduction

This policy consists of policy components. The first policy component concerns research data and is completed in the spring of 2021. The policy component on research methods, including code and software, is estimated to be completed in 2022. On a general level, the openness of research data and methods and good data management improve the possibilities of research verification and promote the appropriate reuse of existing research data and methods2. Openness increases global equality, as the research data can be accessed by researchers globally. This in turn promotes the emergence of new innovations. The openness of research data and methods raises significant questions related to research integrity and legislation and involves restrictions, of which researchers and others working in data management must be aware. To implement equality both on a national and an international level, openness of research data and methods must be promoted in an economically sustainable way. Economically sustainable fostering of openness means that key open science infrastructures are not profit-oriented3. In Finland, research data produced with public funding must be open accessible for all.

Freedom of research and the responsibility of the researcher

This policy is based on national and international policies on open access to research data and methods. Its objective is to support the principles of open science and increase freedom of research as well as researchers’ possibilities of distributing and utilising research-based knowledge. It is the researcher’s responsibility to carry out research of the best possible quality, which includes responsible management of research data and methods. The repository selected for the research data and methods must be such that it best suits the whole in question and provides service in accordance with the FAIR principles. The purpose of open access is to make the further use of research data and methods as open as possible. The degree of openness can be restricted for justified reasons. The research community must guarantee the skills, incentives, resources and structures for opening research data and methods (e.g., infrastructures and services) in a way that supports and respects the work and equality of the researchers.

International context

This policy has been drawn up utilising the extensive national and international work that has been and is done towards promoting the openness of research data. Good summaries of this work are, among others, the plan drawn up by the Association of European Research Universities, Open Science and its Role in Universities: A Roadmap for Cultural Change (2018), and the final report published by the European Commission, Turning FAIR into Reality. Final report and action plan from the European Commission expert group on FAIR data (2018) 4. The operating environment is further shaped by current and future EU regulation on the openness of data, e.g. the Open Data Directive. Scholarly publishers require authors of research publications to provide open access to their data and methods. Scholarly publishers also allow or require authors to save their research data or methods in repositories that can be closed, open or behind paywalls56.

Funders require the opening of research data and methods, which is closely connected to good research data management. An example of this is Science Europe’s guideline Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management7.

By ensuring that the Finnish policy reflects the international development, the Finnish research community participates in the creation of common international practices in this swiftly growing and developing area. Finnish operators actively participate in European and international work, e.g. in the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and Research Data Alliance (RDA) communities. The Finnish research community participates in a dialogue where it can obtain good practices and contribute to the creation of workable solutions.

Risks and threats

This policy includes identified risks. The opening of research data and methods is based on good data management. However, implementation of responsible conduct of research and good research data management requires resources and economic incentives targeted towards research organisations during the entire lifecycle of the research data and methods. To make resources available for the entire lifecycle, organisations in different roles should commit to the maintenance of resources. Investment in services, meanwhile, promotes more efficient resource utilisation and creates savings. Researchers are concerned about opening sensitive and confidential research data (e.g. personal information) and methods. For this reason, different degrees of openness and the researcher’s right to primary use should be considered. In some cases, it is enough to open the metadata. Opening research data and methods brings up juridical (e.g. contractual) questions as well as the legal protection of researchers in relation to research data and methods. Research funding organisations and scholarly publishers increasingly require open research data and methods. From the viewpoint of funding applicants, the risk is that research funding declines or is claimed back if research data cannot be opened. Reasons for not opening research data and methods include lack of skills, services and infrastructures. Legislative, ethical and contractual restrictions can also prevent openness.

Structure and background of the policy

This policy has been drawn up by the Finnish research community. The progress of the work has been the responsibility of a working group assembled by the expert group on open data at the Open Science Coordination (the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies). The work has been directed by the National Open Science and Research Steering Group. The policy supports the Declaration for Open Science and Research 2020–2025. This policy on open access to research data and methods consists of strategic principles common to the entire policy and two policy components in which objectives and actions are set out for each area. The strategic principles describe general preconditions for the pursuit of open access to research data and methods. They formulate principles that are important for the research community and must be adhered to when implementing openness. The objectives listed in the policy components comprise more time-bound, specific and measurable objectives for openness. The objectives are accompanied by concrete actions required for their achievement. The changing international environment affects the objectives and the related actions more quickly than the principles. The vocabulary used in the policy (see appendix 1) supports the readability and sufficient comprehensibility of the document. The vocabulary of open science differs across fields of science, and the terms and their translations vary greatly in legislation. The terms are defined in different ways in different contexts. Due to the differences between fields of science, it is difficult to create a comprehensive vocabulary.
Picture 1. The policy in relation to other national open science documents.

Implementation and monitoring

The implementation of the policy on open access to research data and methods is the responsibility of the entire Finnish research community, and the policy will come into effect gradually. The policy component on open access to research data is completed in spring 2021, and the policy component on research methods in spring 2022. The entire policy, including policy components, will be reviewed no later than 2025.

The monitoring of the implementation of the policy is the responsibility of the Open Science Coordination at the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies. It is the Coordination’s responsibility to support and promote continuous discussion in order to reach the objectives and to keep the policy up to date. The monitoring mechanisms for the openness of research data and methods will be part of the national open science monitoring programme that is being developed.

Strategic principles

Principle 1: Responsible management of research data and methods

Research data and methods shall be managed, opened and used responsibly and appropriately.

Ensuring the realisation and monitoring of the principle:

Baseline: Responsible management of research data and methods is the most important prerequisite for openness. The research community has identified deficiencies in its practices.
Continuous monitoring: Continuous monitoring will be carried out as part of the national monitoring of open science and research.

Principle 2: Data management infrastructures and services

Researchers have access to infrastructures and services that enable responsible data management, and these are developed further in an economically sustainable way, taking into account the researchers’ needs.

Ensuring the realisation and monitoring of the principle:

Baseline review: During 2021, the Open Science Coordination will, in cooperation with the research organisations and service providers, specify a minimum level of research data management infrastructures and services.
Continuous monitoring:: No later than 2022, the Open Science Coordination will draw up an evaluation templateMaterials-footnote-8 for future use in organisations as an evaluation tool in regular self-evaluation. Continuous monitoring will be carried out as part of the national monitoring of open science and research.

Principle 3: Incentives for opening of research data and methods

The researcher’s merits in the promotion of good data management, work related to research data and methods, and the appropriate opening of research data and methods are valued and can support the researcher’s career.

Ensuring the realisation and monitoring of the principle:

Baseline: No later than 2022, the Open Science Coordination will draw up a recommendation on good practices, i.e. how the promotion of good data management, work related to research data, and the opening of research data shall be considered in the researcher’s work, and how these merits will be evaluated.
Continuous monitoring: Continuous monitoring will be carried out as part of the national monitoring of open science and research.

Open access to research data

This national policy component is the Finnish research community’s8 shared guideline for the advancement of open access to research data. The policy component does not include research methods as these will, in accordance with the policy structure, be discussed in a separate policy component. The policy component on open access to research data primarily concerns research data that has been produced or used as part of a research or development process as of 1 July 2021 and

where the researcher is working in or is affiliated with a Finnish research organisation and/or working with funding by a Finnish research funding organisation

or

where the research or development project involving the compilation or use of the research data takes place in a Finnish research organisation and/or is funded by a Finnish research funding organisation.

The objectives below do not take a position on how organisations decide matters, which means that research organisations are tasked with planning according to their own starting points.

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Objective 1: Data management plans

No later than 2023, data management plans have been drawn up as part of quality management for all starting research and development projects, taking into account the needs of different fields of science and the lifecycle of the research data.