Open publishing
Goals and purpose
Open access to scientific publications is important to ensure that society has access to research-based knowledge. It also strengthens the quality of research and the visibility of the individual researcher.
The authorities’ objective is that all Norwegian scientific articles funded by public funds should be openly accessible. At the same time, initiatives such as Plan S require open access for research funded by, among others, the Research Council of Norway and the EU. Requirements for open access vary between funding sources, and scientific publishers have different rules and possible embargo periods for making content available.
The purpose of these guidelines is to clarify responsibilities, obligations, and tasks related to open publishing, both for the individual researcher and for the institution. The guidelines are intended to make it easy for employees and students to make their scientific publications openly available.
Legal responsibility lies with the institution, not with the individual researcher.
Guidelines for open publishing
Scientific publications from employees at Østfold University of Applied Sciences should, as a rule, be published in open access channels.
If employees or students publish in channels without open access, openness should be ensured through self-archiving in the national system NVA. A full-text version of all scientific publications where at least one author is an employee or student at Østfold University of Applied Sciences shall be uploaded to NVA.
When publishing in full open access channels, the published version shall be uploaded. If this is not permitted by the publisher, it is recommended to upload a postprint.
Østfold University of Applied Sciences’ rights retention strategy
The Rector, on behalf of the university, has adopted a rights retention strategy, which entered into force on 17 April 2023. The strategy entails that employees and students may retain the right to self-archive a postprint, regardless of publishers’ policies. This makes it possible to make all scientific publications at the university openly available.
The rights retention strategy is published on the university’s website to inform publishers that employees and students may make their work available under a Creative Commons license.
The Rector is legally responsible for the interpretation of the rights retention strategy and for handling any disputes related to it.
Østfold University of Applied Sciences as purchaser and publisher of scientific literature
The university shall support open publishing through local and national agreements with publishers. In agreements with commercial publishers, the institution shall facilitate open publishing to the greatest extent possible.
The university shall also prioritize support for diamond open access publishing, which requires no payment from either the reader or the author. Journals where the university is the owner or publisher shall provide open access on their own platform or allow self-archiving of all articles without embargo.
Guidance and support
Employees, students, and others with a valid affiliation agreement at Østfold University of Applied Sciences may apply for coverage of publication fees through the university’s publication fund where open publishing involves costs.
Research data management
Goals and purpose
Østfold University of Applied Sciences adheres to overarching national and European guidelines for the management of research data, in line with the FAIR principles. Good management and sharing of research data shall contribute to increased transparency, reuse, and trust in research.
The university encourages researchers and students to use existing datasets where appropriate. At the same time, research data generated at the institution shall be made as open as possible, but as closed as necessary.
The purpose of the guidelines is to clarify responsibilities, obligations, and tasks, and to provide guidance on how research data shall be managed, shared, and preserved by the institution, employees, and students. This shall be done in accordance with applicable administrative, research ethics, and financial requirements.
Scope and definitions
The university’s principles and guidelines for the management of research data apply to all research conducted by employees, and in cases where the research is wholly or partly funded by Østfold University of Applied Sciences and this has been agreed. Research data shall be made as open as possible and as closed as necessary. Restrictions on access may be necessary due to research ethics, legal, commercial, or security considerations.
Research data refers to all registrations, records, and reporting generated during the research process that are considered scientifically relevant or have potential for further use. What can be shared will vary between disciplines.
Ownership of research data
Ownership of research data is regulated by the university’s IPR policy.
The researcher’s responsibilities
Project manager responsibility
In research projects, the project manager is responsible for the project’s research data, unless otherwise agreed. The project manager shall have access to all data in the project and is responsible for the collection, use, and management of the data. The project manager shall also assign and keep track of who has access to the research data.
For research at the university that is not organized as a project, the employee conducting the research is responsible for their own research data. For student assignments and doctoral projects, the supervisor is regarded as the project manager.
The project manager is responsible for the secure and proper handling of research data throughout the project, including data collected in student assignments and doctoral projects.
If the project manager leaves Østfold University of Applied Sciences during the project period or after completion, responsibility for the research data must be clarified. If responsibility is not transferred to another employee, it is assigned to the head of department or dean. Ownership and responsibility may also be transferred to another institution. In such cases, this must be formalized by agreement, and it should be clearly stated where the data were collected and where the research was conducted.
Data management plan
Researchers shall prepare a data management plan before the start of the project. The plan shall describe how research data are collected or generated, and how they will be managed during the project and after its completion.
The data management plan may be updated as needed. Costs related to data management shall be included in the plan and made visible in funding applications.
Making research data available must usually be planned from the start of the project. This may be necessary to ensure that data is handled in accordance with relevant regulations throughout the research process.
Storage and processing
Researchers shall ensure that research data are stored and processed securely and in accordance with applicable institutional guidelines.
Documentation
Research data shall be documented with metadata, method descriptions, and persistent identifiers so that others can find, understand, and use the data.
Metadata shall follow relevant international standards where these exist and provide a clear description of the data content with a view to retrieval and further use.
Making research data available
Researchers shall make research data available for further use unless research ethics, legal, commercial, or security considerations indicate otherwise.
If research data cannot be made available, this must be justified in the data management plan. Where the data themselves cannot be shared, metadata shall be made available as far as possible.
The project manager assesses whether research data are suitable for sharing.
Data shall be made available in suitable and reliable data repositories. Østfold University of Applied Sciences recommends the use of the institution’s collection in DataverseNO or Sikt’s research data repository.
Data shall be made available as early as possible. For data underlying scientific publications, this should take place no later than at the time of publication. For other datasets, the timing is normally at the end of the project. If immediate availability is not possible, data may be deposited with an embargo and made available later. Embargo periods should normally not exceed five years.
Licensing of research data
When sharing research data, clear license for access, reuse, and redistribution shall be applied. The licenses should be internationally recognized and impose as few restrictions as possible on the use of the data.
As a rule, research data shall be published under the CC0 license, which makes the data freely available. This does not remove the research ethics requirement to credit and reference the originators.
The institution’s responsibilities
Data storage services
Østfold University of Applied Sciences provides secure solutions for the processing, storage, and archiving of research data, either at the institution or through other suitable and quality-assured infrastructures. The research administration provides training in the use of these services.
For open research data, the university provides a service for making data available through DataverseNO. The library provides training and support in the use of this.
Guidance and support
The library provides training and support to enable researchers to document, store, and share research data in accordance with best practices and at the lowest possible cost. Guidance is also provided on metadata, metadata standards, and data management plans.
Evaluation
Østfold University of Applied Sciences recognizes research data as independent research contributions that shall be included in the evaluation of research, such as in applications for recruitment and promotion. In such evaluations, emphasis shall be placed on quality and relevance on an equal footing with other scientific work.
The same principles may be applied when allocating research time and internal research funding at the university.