Data management and openness

The Research Council requires that principal investigators of projects funded by us be responsible for the responsible management and opening of research data. Research data must be made freely available as soon as possible after the research results have been published. Sites of research must therefore provide researchers with the necessary guidance and ensure that they have access to suitable storage infrastructure. Research data shall be managed and made available following the FAIR principles (F = findable, A = accessible, I = interoperable and R = reusable).

Funded projects are requested to submit a full data management plan after the funding decision has been made. The plan must be submitted before the applicant and the supporting site of research can confirm receipt of funding.

The data shall be made open access via a national or international archive or storage service that is important for the research organisation or discipline in question. The degrees of data openness may justifiably vary, ranging from fully open to strictly confidential. The research project concerned and the publisher of the data must ensure that publishing the data will not be in breach of the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities, the Finnish Data Protection Act or the Finnish Copyright Act. When making data openly available, the parties involves must also consider licensing issues.

If the research data cannot be made openly available, the metadata must be stored in a Finnish or international data finder.

The costs associated with storing and sharing research data and material are regarded as overheads for the project’s host organisation, but they may also be legitimately accepted as research costs to be covered with Research Council research funding.

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