Open research data and methods, Open access to research data, Open access to research methods and infrastructures
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 principles[1]. 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 methods[2]. 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 inter-national 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-ori-ented[3]. 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 paywalls[5],[6].
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 Management[7].
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 ofresources. 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.
Tutkimusdatan avoin saatavuus
Tämä osalinjausteksti on Avoimen tieteen ja tutkimuksen ohjausryhmän kokouksessa 27.5.2025 hyväksytyn päivitetyn linjauksen mukainen.
Tämä kansallinen osalinjaus on suomalaisen tutkimusyhteisön yhteinen suunnannäyttäjä tutkimusdatojen avoimen saatavuuden edistämiseksi. Osalinjaus ei koske muita tutkimusaineistoja kuten näytteitä eikä tutkimusmenetelmiä, vaan linjausrakenteen mukaisesti niitä voidaan käsitellä omissa osalinjauksissaan.
Kuten linjauksen ensimmäisessä versiossa 2021 linjattiin, tutkimusdatan avoimen saatavuuden osalinjaus koskee ensisijaisesti tutkimusdataa, joka on tuotettu tai käytetty osana tutkimus- tai kehittämisprosessia 1.7.2021 tai sen jälkeen ja
- jossa tutkija on suomalaisessa tutkimusorganisaatiossa työskentelevä tai siihen affilioitunut ja/tai suomalaisen tutkimusrahoittajan rahoituksella työskentelevä tutkija
tai
- jossa tutkimus- tai kehittämisprojekti, jonka yhteydessä tutkimusdata kootaan tai käytetään, sijoittuu suomalaiseen tutkimusorganisaatioon ja/tai on suomalaisen tutkimusrahoittajan rahoittama.
Tässä linjauksessa esitetyt tavoitteet ja toimenpiteet eivät koske ainoastaan tutkimusdatan avaamista, vaan ne keskittyvät vastuulliseen datanhallintaan koko tutkimusdatan elinkaaren ajan. Linjaus kattaa kaikenlaisen tutkimusdatan, myös henkilötietoja sisältävän tai luottamuksellisen aineiston, jota ei voida jakaa avoimesti muiden käyttöön.
Tutkimusorganisaatiot suunnittelevat tutkimusdatan hallinnan kokonaisuuden omista lähtökohdistaan käsin ja toteuttavat ratkaisut joko itsenäisesti tai yhteistyössä muiden toimijoiden kanssa.
Tavoitteet ja niiden edellyttämät toimenpiteet
| Type | DocumentType:Policy |
|---|---|
| Name (fi) | Tutkimusdatan avoin saatavuus |
| Name (sv) | Öppen tillgång till forskningsdata |
| Name (en) | Open access to research data |
| Description (fi) | Tämä kansallinen osalinjaus on suomalaisen tutkimusyhteisön [8] yhteinen suunnannäyttäjä tutkimusdatojen avoimen saatavuuden edistämiseksi. Osalinjaus ei koske muita tutkimusaineistoja eikä -menetelmiä, vaan linjausrakenteen mukaisesti niitä voidaan käsitellä omissa osalinjauksissaan.
Tutkimusdatan avoimen saatavuuden osalinjaus koskee ensisijaisesti tutkimusdataa, joka on tuotettu tai käytetty osana tutkimus- tai kehittämisprosessia 1.7.2021 tai sen jälkeen ja
tai
Toimenpiteissä ei oteta kantaa siihen, miten organisaatiot ratkaisevat asiat, joten tutkimusorganisaatioille on jätetty tehtäväksi suunnitella kokonaisuus omista lähtökohdistaan käsin. |
| Description (sv) | Denna nationella delpolicy är det finländska forskningssamfundets [9]gemensamma vägvisare för att främja öppen tillgång till forskningsdata. Delpolicyn gäller inte övriga forskningsmaterial eller -metoder, som i enlighet med policystrukturen kan behandlas i separata delpolicyer.
Delpolicyn för öppen tillgång till forskningsdata gäller i första hand forskningsdata som har producerats eller använts som en del av en forsknings- eller utvecklingsprocess från och med 1.7.2021, och
eller
Åtgärderna nedan tar inte ställning till organisationernas lösningar, så det är organisationernas uppgift att planera en helhet utgående från sina egna förutsättningar. |
| Description (en) | This national policy component is the Finnish research community’s [10] 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
or
|
| Field | Domain:Data |
| Validity start | 2020 |
| Validity End | 2025 |
| Tags | |
| Has part | |
| Is part of |
Sections No sections yet!
Objective 1: Strategic leadership and decision-making
Research organisations have organised, structured and assigned responsibility for the strategic management of research data management and decision-making at organisational level.
Actions required to achieve the objective:
- Clear and transparent responsibilities and decision-making. The research organisation ensures that responsibilities and decision-making related to research data management and the production, use and development of data management services are clear and transparent.
Objective 2: Incentives and monitoring
Research organisations promote the openness, reuse and responsible management of research data by creating incentives and monitoring mechanisms.
Actions required to achieve the objective:
- Incentives. The research organisation actively develops incentives to enable the publication and reuse of research data.
- Indicators and monitoring. The research organisation develops indicators and monitoring for responsible data management.
Objective 3: 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.
Actions required to achieve the objective:
- Higher education institutions offer instructions, practices and training in data management planning. No later than 2022, higher education institutions will offer instructions, practices and training in the field of data management planning for students, researchers and other personnel.
- Providing data management training. The research organisation provides data management training, support and guidance tailored to the needs of its community to students and researchers, research, development and innovation staff, teachers and thesis supervisors at all career stages.
- Thesis supervisor data management work. The research organisation ensures that thesis supervisors evaluate and comment on data management plans as part of their supervision work.
- Research organisations support research planning in data management. No later than 2022, research organisations support research planning so as to ensure preparedness for sufficient resourcing and costs of data management and its support.
The rights and responsibilities related to the use of research data must be clearly agreed upon by all participants in the research.
Actions required to achieve the objective:
- Research Organisation's Data Legal Practices. The research organisation creates clear and consistent principles and practices, such as contract templates, for agreeing on the rights and responsibilities related to data produced in research. Contractual practices support the ability of researchers to work and collaborate nationally and internationally.
- The research organisation provides guidance on legislation. The research organisation provides guidance, training and support on legislation and licensing related to research data management.
- The research organization provides instructions on references. provides guidance on how to cite research data and requires citations to the research data used in research in its publication guidelines.
- Data storage service. The research organisation ensures that its data storage services (such as data repositories, data catalogues, and data archives) provide guidance on how to cite the research data stored in them and how the terms of use are presented.
Objective 5: Documentation supports FAIR research data
Research data produced in research and development projects and its life cycle are documented so that metadata supports the verification of research data and results, and the reuse, further use, findability, interoperability and accessibility of research data in accordance with the FAIR principles.
Actions required to achieve the objective:
- Research organisations support researchers in choosing data. The research organisation supports researchers in selecting and assessing the value of the research data to be preserved.
- Training and support for documenta-tion of research data. Forskningsorganisationen stödjer dokumentation av forskningsdata, reproducerbarhet av forskning och produktion av metadata genom att tillhandahålla lämpliga tjänster, vägledning och utbildning,
- Prepareations for the documentation costs. The research organisation supports research planning so that research projects are prepared for the resourcing of data documentation
Objective 6: Research data management solutions
The research organisation provides appropriate technical solutions and services for research data management.
Actions required to achieve the objective:
- Supporting infrastructure and services provided by the research organization. The research organisation provides the infrastructure and services needed to support the storage, preservation, processing and sharing of research data at different stages of its lifecycle.
- Reference architectures of services provided by a research organization. The research organisation utilises relevant reference architectures, such as the Open Science and Research Reference Architecture 2024–2030 and the Data Management Reference Architecture, in developing the infrastructure and service framework described above
Objective 7: Research organisations engage in multiprofessional cooperation
Research organisations engage in multiprofessional cooperation for the development of training, skills, and required data management services.
Actions required to achieve the objective:
- The research organisation develops skills, practices and services. The research organisation develops skills, practices and services in national and international collaboration.
- The research organisation describes the expert roles and jobs needed. The research organisation describes the expert roles and job descriptions needed in its organisation and creates career paths for these roles. Data management skills are recognised and acknowledged.
- The research organisation offers expert training in data management. The research organisation offers expert training in data management or enables participation in such training.
Literature
International sources
Ayris, Paul; López de San Román, Alea; Maes, Katrien; Labastida, Ignasi (2018): Open Science and its Role in Universities: A Roadmap for Cultural Change. League of European Research Universities (LERU).
Ball, A. (2014). DCC How-to Guides: How to License Research Data. Digital Curation Centre, Edinburgh.
Euroopan parlamentin ja neuvoston direktiivi 2019/1024 avoimesta datasta ja julkisen sektorin hallussa olevien tietojen uudelleenkäytöstä.
FORCE11 Group: Guiding Principles for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable Data Publishing.
Rans, J and Whyte, A. (2017). Using RISE, the Research Infrastructure Self-Evaluation Framework. Digital Curation Centre, Edinburgh.
RDA FAIR Data Maturity Model Working Group (2020): FAIR Data Maturity Model: specification and guidelines. Research Data Alliance. doi.org/10.15497/RDA00045.
RRI-Practice: “What is RRI?”. https://www.rri-practice.eu/about-rri-practice/what-is-rri/.
Science Europe (2018): “Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management”.
Springer Nature: “Data Availability Statements”.
Tutkimuksen ja innovoinnin pääosasto, Euroopan komissio (2018): Turning FAIR into Reality. Final report and action plan from the European Commission expert group on FAIR data. doi.org/10.2777/1524.
Tutkimuksen ja innovoinnin pääosasto, Euroopan komissio (2018): Prompting an EOSC in Practice. Final report and recommendations of the Commission 2nd High Level Expert Group on the European Open Science Cloud. doi.org/10.2777/112658.
Tutkimuksen ja innovoinnin pääosasto, Euroopan komissio (2016): Guidelines on Fair Data Management in Horizon 2020.
UK Concordat on Open Research Data (2016).
UNESCO (2020). First draft of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.
Glossary
- Not found Tutkimusaineisto
Research data: Research data is material collected, detected, measured or created to confirm hypotheses and verify research results. Research data can usually be in digital format but also in analogue or physical format (e.g., laboratory journals).
Metadata: Metadata or descriptive information refers to the context, content and structure, management and/or processing of research data and information describing and summarising its compilation.
Research data openness: For the purposes of this policy, research data openness, refers to the findability, accessibility, usability and shareability of research data for other researchers. Open access to research data requires good and responsible data management. Reuse of research data is supported through licenses, or its use may require an appropriate research permit. The responsible processing of research data that contains personal information or is sensitive or confidential requires the researcher to comply with both legislation and good practices in research integrity. In such cases, however, it is often possible to open the metadata of the research data and to provide other researchers with the opportunity to access the data through a separate agreement on the transfer.
Good and responsible research data management: For the purposes of this policy, good management means that research data and the related metadata has been “created, saved and organised so that the research data remains usable and reliable, and that data security and privacy are ensured throughout the lifecycle of the research data”. In addition, good research data management in the very context of open science means that the principle of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”, the FAIR principles and the principle of responsibility are taken into account at all stages of the research process. Good research data management is a necessary prerequisite for open access. Evaluation of good research data management is based on the following viewpoints:
- According to the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”, data that can be opened for access and reuse must be opened. Correspondingly, data which cannot be opened and shared must be protected and safely stored. It is ultimately the researcher’s responsibility to determine which group the research data falls into. Refraining from opening data always requires justification.
- The FAIR principles refer to the quality of research data from the view-point of its further use. The principles aim to make research data
- Findable
- Accessible
- Interoperable
- Reusable
- Research data and metadata complying with the FAIR principles are semantically interoperable, i.e. they must be structured, described, tagged and licensed well enough, as well as stored safely, to be findable and machine readable. In most areas, it is not yet possible to create data that is fully compliant with the FAIR principles due to lack of skills and services or due to the nature of the data.
- For the purposes of this policy, responsible data management refers to:
- knowledge of and compliance with the principles of the field of research
- knowledge of and compliance with the principles of research integrity
- knowledge of and compliance with legislation
- knowledge of and compliance with the principles of data security and privacy
- Responsible research data management is a prerequisite for all forms of data openness. Responsible data management requires that the data and metadata are managed in a way that is compliant with data security, privacy and research integrity. Responsible data management and the possibility for opening research data it entails are part of responsible conduct of research.
Policy working group
Minna Ala-Mantila, CSC – IT Center for Science Nina Edgren-Henrichson, Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland Pamela Gustavsson, Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland Kaisa Hakkila, University of Turku Anne Holappa, The Finnish Copyright Society Outi Hupaniittu, The Finnish Literature Society Nina Järviö, The Finnish Federation of Learned Societies (secretary –03/2020) Meri-Tuulia Kaarakainen, University of Turku Miki Kallio, University of Oulu Anu Kantola, Natural Resources Institute in Finland Liisa Karlsson, University of Helsinki Olli-Pekka Kaurahalme, University of Turku Joona Koiranen, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences Tuija Korhonen, University of Helsinki Mari Elisa (MEK) Kuusniemi, University of Helsinki/Tuuli Hanna Lahdenperä, The Finnish Federation of Learned Societies (secretary. 05/2020–) Heidi Laine, CSC – IT Center for Science Kristina Linnovaara, Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland Riku Louhimo, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Juuso Marttila, University of Jyväskylä Juhani Naskali, University of Turku Anssi Neuvonen, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Maria Niku, The Finnish Literature Society Tiina Nokkala, Turku University of Applied Sciences Elina Nurminen, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences Susanna Nykyri, Tampere University Turkka Näppilä, Tampere University Rainer Oesch, University of Helsinki Pekka Orponen, Aalto University & FCRD (chairperson –05/2020) Seliina Päällysaho, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences Antti Pursula, CSC – IT Center for Science Maria Rehbinder, Aalto University Mari Riipinen, University of Turku Sulevi Riukulehto, The Ruralia Institute, University of Helsinki Tomi Rosti, University of Eastern Finland (chairperson 05/2020–) Matti Ruuskanen, University of Turku Toni Saari, University of Eastern Finland Jussi Salmi, University of Turku Nina-Mari Salminen, Natural Resource Center Finland Hannele Seppälä, Finnish Education Evaluation Centre Janne Seppänen, University of Jyväskylä Tiina Sipola, University of Oulu Anne Sunikka, Aalto University Anna Suorsa, University of Oulu Ville Tenhunen, University of Helsinki, Center for Information Technology Heidi Troberg, University of Vaasa, Tritonia Antti Tuomi-Nikula, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
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- ↑ The FAIR principles refer to the quality of research data from the viewpoint of further use. The goal of the principles is to make research data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable. See Appendix 1 and https://www.force11.org/fairprinciples.
- ↑ The goal of responsible research and innovation is to encourage operators to produce ethically acceptable, sustainable and societally interesting research and innovation outputs.
- ↑ "First draft of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science", s. 5.
- ↑ Ayris, Paul; López de San Román, Alea; Maes, Katrien; Labastida, Ignasi: Open Science and its Role in Universities: A Roadmap for Cultural Change. League of European Research Universities, 2018.;
Turning FAIR into Reality. Final report and action plan from the European Commission expert group on FAIR data. Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission, 2018. doi.org/10.2777/1524. See also Lawrence, Rebecca; Mendez, Eva: Progress on open science: Towards a shared research knowledge system. Final report of the open science policy platform. Directorate-General forResearch and Innovation, European Commission, 2020. doi.org/10.2777/00139. - ↑ Springer Nature: “Data Availability Statements".
- ↑ First draft of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.
- ↑ Science Europe: Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management, 2018.
- ↑ Tutkimusyhteisön määritelmässä noudatetaan Avoimen tieteen ja tutkimuksen julistuksen 2020–2025 (2020, 5) määritelmää. https://doi. org/10.23847/isbn.9789525995237
- ↑ Forskningssamfundet definieras enligt Deklarationen för öppen vetenskap och forskning 2020–2025 (2020, 5). https://doi.org/10.23847/ isbn.9789525995237.
- ↑ Forskningssamfundet definieras enligt Deklarationen för öppen vetenskap och forskning 2020–2025 (2020, 5). https://doi.org/10.23847/ isbn.9789525995237.