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Policy component 2: Open access to research methods and infrastructures

THIS POLICY PROVIDES general recommendations for the openness of research methods and infrastructures for research organisations, infrastructure providers, funders, publishers, the research community, and other operators. As stated in the actions, it will be necessary to design more specific recommendations and guidelines that consider differences between disciplines. The national open science architecture work will further complement this policy by mapping the available services and infrastructures for research data and methods, and by helping to identify the prevailing needs for services and infrastructures at the local, national, and international levels.

Research methods should always be communicated at a sufficient level of detail and completeness that allows a thorough public evaluation of how the results have been derived and how the chosen methodology may impact the results and conclusions of a study. The requirement of openness covers not only individual methods or components, but the whole workflow of research that is needed to proceed from observations to results and conclusions. Openness helps expose all methodological choices to an extent that has not been possible or feasible through more traditional forms of academic communication. In quantitative research this may indicate exact replicability of a study or parts of it, whereas in qualitative research enhancements in the transparency of documentation and argumentation may be emphasised. Documentation, versioning, open dissemination, and clear permissions for reuse support the reusability and further development of the methods. Although universal definitions for reproducibility and other key terms are lacking1, they generally emphasise comprehensive documentation and sharing of full methodological workflows for purposes of verification, validation, and reuse. Openness of methods can support standardisation and reduce the possibilities for biased methodology and conclusions. Openness can thus remarkably facilitate the quality and impact of methods across the entire research process and its life cycle.

The higher education and research community has, for a long time, recognised the transparent communication of methods as an essential part of research and dissemination. Research organisations, funders, publishers, and infrastructure providers have an important role in incentivising and supporting the early and broad dissemination of the research process, tools, and intermediate research outputs. Whereas researchers have traditionally reported methods in publications, the diversification of research, changes in technology and society, and the need to increase the impact of research through, for example, the adoption and reuse of methods, have set new challenges and opportunities towards these goals. Methods are increasingly recognised as independent research outputs and disseminated through various channels, such as methods sections and supplementary materials, distinct data or methods publications, public protocols, code and material availability statements, open repositories, and in micropublications. Ensuring the early and long-term availability and preservation of methods may require new solutions that complement more traditional forms of research dissemination.

Research infrastructures and infrastructure services are essential instruments for supporting research and advancing the openness of research, and they should be built with a long-term vision. This policy supports the broadest possible openness of research infrastructures as a means to support and advance open scholarship. Funders and research infrastructure providers can advance these goals by providing specific guidelines, supporting national2 and international3, 4, 5 recommendations on open research infrastructures. This also includes the development and adoption of standardised documentation on and citations of research infrastructure use based on dedicated and citable infrastructure identifiers (e.g. PID/ROR). The open availability of information on research infrastructures and their usage policies is part of the openness of research infrastructures. Access to research infrastructures may need to be controlled for ethical, legal, or financial, or other essential reasons. Infrastructure providers should define explicit policies to regulate access when the infrastructure and its service capacity are limited. Researchers or research organisations should be able to apply for infrastructure services based on public calls organised by the infrastructure provider. Funders and publishers can support these practices. Economically sustainable fostering of openness means that publicly funded research infrastructures must be openly accessible for the widest possible audience and not profit-­oriented. They can, however, request unit costs for service and maintenance, and have limited economic activity 6, 7, 8, 9 in order to ensure sustainability of the infrastructure development and maintenance. Research may also rely on infrastructures based on proprietary software (including software used to conduct statistical or qualitative analyses), devices, services, or other innovation, development, and technology infrastructures or platforms and collaboration agreements that limit the level of openness. Whereas such infrastructures may be necessary for carrying out research, researchers and research organisations are encouraged to advance open alternatives.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIONS

This national policy component is the Finnish research community’s shared guideline for the advancement of ‘’open access to research methods and infrastructures’’. It complements the policy component on open access to research data (Figure 1). Many steps have already been taken towards these goals in Finland: national research infrastructure services are required to have explicit open access and data management policies, open licences have become more widely understood and used, and the need for improving the transparency and reusability of research outputs has been widely recognised. This policy aims to further support and advance open access to research methods and infrastructures.

The implementation details and scope in supporting the openness of research methods and infrastructures may vary significantly. In the development and monitoring of openness it is essential to consider differences in the type, scope and management structure of the infrastructure and infrastructure services as well as the international context and complementary policies on e.g. ownership10, funding11 and data management12. The development of discipline-specific guidelines for open research methods and infrastructures may be necessary and should be considered as part of the national policy work13.

Research is encountering new challenges and expectations in the changing world in terms of transparency, accessibility, reproducibility, and reusability. Addressing these issues can improve the overall research quality and impact as well as public trust in science.

This policy defines three broad objectives (Figure 2) and associated tasks (Figure 3) to solve pragmatic challenges in opening up research methods. This policy component primarily concerns research methods that have been produced or used as part of a research or development process as of 1 January 2023 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 research methods 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.

Summary of objectives for the open methods policy:

1. By 2023, open research methods and infrastructures are recognised as key components of research quality and impact.
2. By 2024, research organisations and infrastructure providers support open research methods.
3. By 2025, the rights and terms related to research methods and infrastructures are clearly agreed on between all participants in research work.

OBJECTIVE 1: By 2023, open research methods and infrastructures are recognised as key components of research quality and impact.

Research evaluation and incentives do not sufficiently reflect the importance of open methods and infrastructures. It is therefore necessary to develop more systematic means to recognise openness of methods and infrastructures.

Actions required to achieve this objective:

• No later than 2023, the Secretariat for Open Science and Research will, together with research organisations and the research community, initiate the creation of indicators and minimum requirements to monitor the implementation of this policy based on internationally recognised metrics of responsible research evaluation14, 15.
• No later than 2023, the Secretariat for Open Science and Research will, together with research organisations and the research community, initiate assessment of the need to create additional discipline-specific recommendations16 and minimum information standards for specific topics, such as qualitative and mixed methods research, algorithms and software, research infrastructures, or other topics, in order to complement and support this policy.
• No later than 2023, the Secretariat for Open Science and Research will participate in international dialogue on the creation of recommendations on how to strengthen the documentation, citations and acknowledgment of research methods and infrastructures as independent research outputs.
• No later than 2024, research organisations and funding organisations will initiate planning to develop resources, incentives and merit mechanisms, together with the national and international research community as well as the steering group on responsible research evaluation in Finland, to support the objectives of this policy in responsible research evaluation17.

OBJECTIVE 2: By 2024, research organisations and infrastructure providers support open research methods.

Opening up research methods and infrastructures requires dedicated knowledge, skills, and resources. It is necessary to systematically assess the need to develop the current policies, training and services, and strengthen the openness of methods and infrastructures in routine research practice.

Actions required to achieve this objective:

• No later than 2023, the national open science architecture will include research methods and their open access policies, services and infrastructures as well as the development of related skills.
• No later than 2024, research organisations and infrastructure providers will, in national cooperation, review the current status of their research infrastructures and services for open research methods in relation to the national open science architecture and initiate further actions in order to fulfil the identified gaps.
• No later than 2024, research organisations will provide support and recommendations for training and services for students, researchers and other personnel on open research methods and open research infrastructures according to their capabilities18 and in cooperation with the relevant stakeholders. Openness will be considered as a factor in the purchase and development of services and products for research.
• No later than 2024, the DMP consortium will support this policy by strengthening the incorporation of open research methods and infrastructures in the research project Data Management Plan (DMP) 19.
• No later than 2025, research organisations will describe expert roles in open methods and infrastructures according to their needs and in co-operation on a national level. They will assess the opportunities for creating specialised career paths in this area20.

OBJECTIVE 3: By 2025, the rights and terms related to research methods and infrastructures are clearly agreed on between all participants in research work. The objectives need to be supported by clear terms and conditions.

Actions required to achieve the objective:

• No later than 2023, the Secretariat for Open Science and Research will, together with research organisations and the research community, initiate the establishment of recommendations and guidelines for documenting the rights, terms, and licences supporting the openness of research methods and infrastructures21.
• No later than 2024, the Secretariat for Open Science and Research will initiate discussion with the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity on the possibility of developing general guidelines and recommendations for reconciling open access to research data, methods, and infrastructures with other elements of research integrity.
• No later than 2025, research and funding organisations, in cooperation with the Finnish research community, have set up national guidelines to advance clear and unambiguous agreements on the rights and responsibilities related to open research methods and infrastructures.

Objectives and actions

Structured data

Type	DocumentType:Policy
Name (fi)	Tutkimusmenetelmien ja -infrastruktuurien avoin saatavuus
Name (sv)	Öppen tillgång till forskningsmetoder och -infrastrukturer
Name (en)	Open access to research methods and infrastructures
Description (fi)	Tässä osalinjauksessa esitetään tutkimusmenetelmien ja -infrastruktuurien avoimuutta koskevia suosituksia tutkimusorganisaatioille, infrastruktuurien tarjoajille, rahoittajille, julkaisijoille, tutkimusyhteisölle ja muille toimijoille.
Description (sv)	Denna delpolicy innehåller allmänna rekommendationer om öppen tillgång till forskningsmetoder och -infrastrukturer för forskningsorganisationer, infrastrukturleverantörer, finansiärer, utgivare, forskningssamfundet och andra aktörer.
Description (en)	This policy component provides general recommendations for the openness of research methods and infrastructures for research organisations, infrastructure providers, funders, publishers, the research community, and other operators.
Field	Domain:Data
Validity start	2023
Validity End	2025
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Is part of	Aineistot/en

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The publication in its entirety is available on the Internet free of charge and without restrictions to read, print and copy at least for non-commercial use.

Data Management Plan (DMP) is a formal and dynamic document that specifies how resources are managed across the life cycle of a thesis, covering, for instance, research data, analysis steps (e.g. protocols, algorithms, procedures), devices and tools (e.g. information on lab equipment and manufacturers, reagents, infrastructure, software), other relevant documentation, versioning, preservation, services, terms and conditions, and open development and sharing of research data, methods and infrastructures. (Open Science and Research Coordination in Finland, Federation of Finnish Learned Societies 2023, 34)

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