The monitoring results provide a comprehensive overview of the state of Finnish open science and research.
The 2022 monitoring on open science and research has been completed with excellent results. The level of openness of the majority of the universities and universities of applied sciences was evaluated as excellent or outstanding. Four out of ten research institutions reached outstanding level.
The majority of the universities and universities of applied sciences reached the two topmost levels of openness. Location, size or multidisciplinarity did not generate differences between the openness levels of higher education institutions. Among research institutions, those with medium staff numbers displayed the highest level of openness.
Regarding universities, the openness of data and infrastructures proved to be outstanding, whereas the openness level of education was satisfactory. Universities of applied sciences and research institutions displayed less performance level variation across the various areas. As for individual questions, all universities of applied sciences and universities had, for example, considered the Declaration for Open Science and Research in their own guidelines. In addition to this, many services related to the openness of publications and use of open publications, as well as the basic services related to the data management, were available at all or almost all research organisations. Open education and responsible evaluation, in turn, were found to be the least developed areas.
The aim of the monitoring is to support organisations’ development work towards open science and research
The aim of the monitoring is to support open science development work at organisations, to support and verify the implementation of the objectives laid down in the Declaration for Open Science and Research and in the related policies and to generate an overview of the openness level of Finnish science and research. The development of open science and research operating models at organisations was considered in the monitoring from the viewpoints of different areas (publishing, data and infrastructure, education and culture for open scholarship) and ways of promoting (guidelines, services and cooperation).
The monitoring results were published on 31 October with open access in the research.fi portal, where the users themselves can select viewpoints for viewing the data. The portal’s visual analytics platform allows for viewing the results at the level of different sectors or the entirety of Finnish open science and research. All the research data will later be published for open access.
Monitoring produces important information for the research community
The 2022 monitoring report on open science and research covers all Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences and the majority of Finnish research institutions whose data can be found in the Research Information Hub . “We were pleased to see Finnish research organisations participate in the monitoring on such a broad spectrum. This also boosts international interest in the monitoring,” says Marita Kari, the expert responsible for the monitoring in the OScAR secretariat.
The data of the open science research monitoring were compiled with the help of an online survey directed at the research organisations and by retrieving the data required for quantitative indicators on behalf of the organisations. The online survey was open between 19 May and 30 June 2022. We are grateful to all respondents for their valuable work. The response percentages of the research organisations reached very high levels:
- University sector: 100%
- University of applied sciences sector: 100%
- Research institutions: 83%.
As for the quantitative indicators, the data for 2021 were used for publications, and the cumulative data collected by 30 June 2022 were used for open educationmaterials. In addition, 121 good practices of open science and research were described in connection with the monitoring. Along with the descriptions saved earlier, these will be published as a separate database by the end of 2022.
The monitoring model was developed in 2020 by a work group set up by the Open Science and Research Steering Group. The Steering Group approved the monitoring model in spring 2022 and the final scoring principles for the openness levels on 12 October 2022. The scoring principles are transparent and available to everyone. In addition to the work group, expert members from the Open Science and Research Coordination were involved in the development of the monitoring model through co-development in spring 2021. The monitoring model was open to open national commenting in autumn 2021.
The monitoring model for 2024 will be developed based on the monitoring of 2022. The monitoring of 2024 will be more extensive than the first round. However, the role of the survey is intended to diminish with the buildup of the Research Information Hub
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