Open research data and methods

Executive summary

THIS POLICY FOR OPEN ACCESS to Research Data and Methods supports the "Declaration for Open Science and Research 2020–2025" and its overarching principle that research should be as open as possible and as closed as necessary. This policy builds on extensive national and international work and dialogue. It has been drawn up by the Finnish research community and coordinated by National Coordination for Open Science and Research (the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies).

The policy focuses on the openness of research data, methods, and infrastructures. It views openness as an element of research "quality" and "impact" across the full life cycle of research and as an opportunity to advance global inclusivity in research. It considers research data and methods as independent research outputs, and generally encourages opening up the research process as early and widely as possible, and requests that limitations to openness should be justified. Existing frameworks, such as the "FAIR principles", can be used to regulate the level of openness for research data and various types of methods.

All fields of higher education and research are covered by this policy. The diversity across fields forms challenges for translating and implementing best practices. The policy emphasises general principles of responsible management of research resources, access to appropriate services, and responsible research evaluation. These guiding principles have been formulated as specific objectives and actions for researchers, research and funding organisations, and other actors. The Open Science Coordination at the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies will monitor the implementation and further development of this policy as part of the national open science monitoring programme.

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 for Open Access to Research Data and Methods consists of two policy components that were published in 2021–2023 by the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, and focus on research data and research methods and infrastructures, respectively. Openness and good management of research resources – including data, methods and infrastructures – support the key goals of research quality and impact. These broad concepts may emphasise different aspects in different disciplines. On a general level, openness allows broad dissemination and more efficient verification and reuse, increasing the availability, trustworthiness, and efficiency of research beyond traditional conventions2. This can be supported by the FAIR principles, which provide a systematic framework for defining and implementing the appropriate level of openness and for assessing it as part of responsible research evaluation. Openness can strengthen various aspects of research quality, including for instance integrity and credibility, reproducibility and verifiability, and translatability of research into new uses. These objectives are challenged by technical bottlenecks as well as the continuous, iterative processual nature of methods development and application, which is often inseparable from research and innovation. Increased openness can thus support the transparency of the entire research process. Openness can also increase the impact of research on research practice as well as on society at large, including for instance enhanced accessibility, transparency, speed, efficiency, or new opportunities for collaboration, development and innovation. Openness is thus a component of research quality and impact.

Researchers and research organisations (see Glossary) can benefit from openness based on increased visibility and impact of their work. Openness can remove barriers to access and promote inclusivity and equal access to knowledge worldwide by facilitating interdisciplinary research as well as global equality and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals3. It can advance collaborative knowledge creation and the emergence of new innovations. In order to implement equality both on a national and an international level, funders and research organisations should promote openness of research in an economically sustainable way. Open methods and infrastructures should be non-profit oriented but they may include minimal maintenance costs for research use. Organisations should encourage and support researchers in adopting and promoting open practices in all fields of research. This includes both technical support and resources as well as social aspects of recognition and incentives. Scholarly publishers and funders increasingly require that researchers provide open access to their data and methods in connection to good practices in the management of research resources. An example of this is Science Europe’s guideline "Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management"4. Moreover, the development and adoption of improved citation practices concerning data, methods and infrastructures can further incentivize and support openness 5,6,7.

This policy builds on the extensive national and international work towards promoting the openness of research data, methods, and infrastructures. In line with international guidelines, this policy recommends that research and funding organisations, learned societies, publishers and editorial boards should adopt policies that require and advance open access to research.8,9. Relevant summaries of this work are, among others, "UNESCO recommendation on open science"10 (2022), "CERN open science policy"11 , "EU Open Science Policy"12, (2019), the plan drawn up by the Association of European Research Universities, "Open Science and its Role in Universities: A Roadmap for Cultural Change"13, (2018), the final report published by the European Commission, "Minimum conditions supporting research reproducibility"13, "Turning FAIR into Reality. Final report and action plan from the European Commission expert group on FAIR data", (2018), and "Six Recommendations for Implementation of FAIR Practice" (2020) 14,15. The operating environment is further shaped by current and future EU regulation on the openness of data, e.g. the Open Data Directive. The Finnish research community participates in the creation of common international practices in this swiftly growing and developing area and ensures that the Finnish policy reflects international development. Finnish operators actively participate in European and international work, e.g. in the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), the Research Data Alliance (RDA), International Science Council Committee on Data (CODATA) communities, and European research infrastructure work16. The Finnish research community participates actively in a dialogue where it can support the openness of research and contribute to the creation of practical solutions in national and international cooperation.

This policy generally encourages researchers and research organisations to open up the research process – including data, methods and infrastructures – as early and widely as possible[CiteRef::Materials-footnote-17]],17. Early dissemination can help researchers to establish priority and to receive timely feedback to improve the work, thus increasing the overall research quality and impact. As a general rule, researchers should justify limitations to the openness of data and methods underlying published research and expert statements, and not limit openness more than necessary.

Freedom of research and the responsibility of the researcher

This policy supports the principles of open science as well as researchers’ freedom and possibilities to distribute and utilise research-based knowledge across the full life cycle of research. Researchers and research organisations are responsible for carrying out and disseminating research of the best possible quality and impact, and they have the right and freedom to choose the approaches that best serve these goals. This includes responsible management and openness of data, methods and infrastructures, which must be evaluated in the context of the research domain and lifecycle. As an element of research quality and impact, openness is therefore compatible with the freedom of research and the intellectual and other rights of a researcher. 18

Responsible openness is an essential aspect of research integrity19,20. Open research practices raise significant questions related to research integrity and legislation. These may imply restrictions, of which researchers and others working with the management of research data, methods, and infrastructures must be aware. Whereas legislative, ethical, contractual or other restrictions and ambiguities can limit openness, good research practice justifies such limitations. Limitations to openness should not be justified merely by established traditions, and funders and research organisations should generally encourage and support the adoption of good open research practices across fields21,22.

The Finnish legislation supports broad availability of research data and methods for commercial purposes23,24. Open research data, methods and infrastructures provide new opportunities for governmental and industrial actors to benefit from research. This policy supports national recommendations for open science 25 in collaboration with non-academic partners, including governmental and non-governmental organisations, companies, and commercialization26. Limitations on commercial use are not compliant with the open source definition; non-commercial clauses in open licences do not qualify as open access and shall be generally avoided27. Industrial collaboration, commercialization, and other development and innovation activities may, however, also create the need and justification to limit the level of openness28 . Researchers are hence responsible for seeking solutions that are compatible with the overarching principle “"as open as possible, as closed as necessary"”, and research organisations should provide the necessary support and incentives for the responsible opening of research resources.

Funders and research organisations should evaluate openness according to the guidelines on responsible research evaluation29,30,31,32 based on the overall research quality and impact. Recognizing the diversity of research and paying attention to variations in the type, life-cycle, and role of data and methods in different disciplines are critical factors in responsible evaluation33. The different roles related to the development and use of open practices at different stages of research should be recognized, and merit mechanisms can be designed to reward operators at different levels from individuals to teams, units, and entire organisations.

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’s9 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.