Promoting open science is one of the factors identified in the RCF’s strategy contributing to the high quality, accountability and societal impact of science.
Our open science activities are implemented in requirements to make research outputs resulting from RCF-funded research projects open access. Our aim is to ensure that research results, their metadata and the methods used are made openly available for further use.
Promoting open science is one of the science policy factors that we have identified as a criterion when making funding decisions. When deciding on the granting of funding, our decision-making bodies take into account the manner in which the publication plan presented in the application is implemented in support of open access as well as the section on the management and accessibility of research data. RCF policies on open access to scientific publications have been divided into sections according to the different types of publications and the various ways in which they are made open access.
Implementing the goals of open science is also a key element in responsible research. The principles of open science must be pursued with due attention to good scientific practice and law. The promotion of open science and research is part of the merits that demonstrate researchers’ expertise, which are taken into account in the review of funding applications.
We implement our science policy objectives together with national and international stakeholders. As regards open science, the most important cooperation forums and policies are:
In most Research Council funding calls, applicants are requested to submit a publication plan as part of their applications. Applicants must take into account the Research Council’s guidelines on open access to scientific publications already at the application stage. Read more in the policies on open access to scientific publications and the application guidelines on open access.
In most Research Council funding calls, applicants are requested to provide basic information on the research data to be collected and used during the research, on data management and on the possible implementation of open access. Applicants must take into account the Research Council’s policies on data management and open data already at the application stage. Read more in the policies on open research data and the application guidelines on data management and openness.
The Research Council requires an actual and more comprehensive data management plan only from projects that have been granted Research Council funding. Read more in the guidelines on the data management plan and the instructions on how to submit the plan to the Research Council.
In the review and decision-making, the Research Council takes into account the plans for open science related to the implementation of the research project as part of the promotion of open access to research outputs on the one hand, and as part of the implementation of responsible science on the other. Open science is one of the Research Council’s science policy objectives that are taken into account when funding decisions are made.
Each favourable Research Council funding decision is accompanied by the terms and conditions that apply to the funding. The activities of the funded research project should always be based on the funding terms in force at the time of the funding call. In the funding terms and conditions in force as of 1 January 2021 (PDF), issues related to open science are addressed in section 6.2, ‘Publishing, data and open science’.
The Research Council asks completed research projects to report on their activities and outputs. In connection with final reporting, we also request information on open access to scientific publications and research data. Where necessary, we require that scientific publications published behind a paywall be made public. Projects may also report on other achievements or challenges related to the implementation of open science. See more detailed guidelines on final reporting.
Definitions for the terms and concepts used in the open science policies of the Research Council of Finland can be found, in particular, in the open science section of the Helsinki Term Bank for the Arts and Sciences (mostly in Finnish) or on the Frequently Asked Questions page of cOAlition S.
The Research Council of Finland is an active member of both Finnish and international open science networks.
Open Science National Coordination (Federation of Finnish Learned Societies)
Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD)
European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)
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