Open science
Digitalisation has enabled the change that is now taking place regarding accessibility to research results – it is called open science. Here you gain more knowledge about the concept and can learn how to find openly available research material.
What is open science?
Scientific research is essential to finding solutions to the major societal challenges that the world of today is facing. Therefore, it is important that research results, such as scientific publications and research data, are made freely accessible to everyone. Through various global initiatives open science is now being implemented.
As a researcher at Luleå University of Technology, you can find all the support available to you on the research support pages of the staff website.
- Research – support for researchers at LTU
Support and information about research (internal page).
In the past, access to most of the scientific research results produced worldwide has been restricted and the information locked behind paywalls in, for example, costly databases or journals requiring expensive subscriptions.
Today this rigid structure is starting to change. This is largely due to the concept known as open science. The aim of open science is for research data and results to become more accessible and transparent to all potential readers, as well as enable reuse of the information in later research.
Open science is a concept that encompasses multiple aspects of research; this includes open access to publications (open access), open research data (open data), open source (open source software), open educational resources and citizen science (where the public participates in and contributes to research). The two most prominent areas are open access to publications and open research data.
The Swedish Government's statement concerning open science
In Sweden, the open science movement has resulted in a research and innovation bill presented by the government in 2020, which states that:
...scientific publications resulting from publicly funded research shall be immediately openly available with effect from 2021. As regards research data, the transition shall be fully implemented by 2026, which means that research data shall be made available as openly as possible and as limited as necessary.
(Prop. 2020/21:60, p. 101)
Coordination of the work on open science in Sweden
The National Library of Sweden has been commissioned by the government to coordinate the transition to, and promote nationwide work with, open access to publications. The Swedish Research Council is set to do the same in regard to open access to research data.
The higher education institutions in Sweden work to support researchers in managing, storing, making available and preserving research results.
- Open access
Information about open access to scholarly publications from the National Library of Sweden. - Open access to research data
Information from the Swedish Research Council about open access to research data.
Condition for open science
The researcher manages his or her copyright of the research material by using a so-called open license. The license outlines how the material can be used, processed, and disseminated; provided that the researcher is identified as the author. One commonly used open license model is the Creative Commons (CC) licenses.
- When we share, everyone wins – Creative Commons
Learn more about Creative Commons licenses.
More on Open Science
- Forskning, frihet, framtid – kunskap och innovation för Sverige
The Swedish Government’s research bill 2020/21:60. Available in Swedish. - Openscience.se
Information about key organisations, resources and policy documents supporting Sweden’s transition to open scienc - Open Science – UNESCO
In 2021, UNESCO and its 193 Member States adopted a global recommendation on open science. It defines open science and provides guidelines for future development. - Open Science - European Commission
The EU has adopted an open science policy that includes several initiatives to help researchers store, manage, share and use research findings. - Public & Science Sweden
A non-profit organisation that promotes dialogue and openness between researchers and the public. It also provides information about ongoing citizen science projects.
Policy for open science at Luleå University of Technology
The university’s policy sets out the goals, strategic direction and overall responsibilities for the transition to open science.
- Policy for Open Science at Luleå University of Technology
Read the university’s policy document on open science.
How the University Library works with open science
At the university library, we spread knowledge and provide support regarding open science to our users. The researchers at Luleå University of Technology can contact the university library with questions about publishing openly accessible. Students and the public are supported in finding the open resources.
“Luleå University of Technology supports and works for the transition to an open scientific society and the principle of Open Science”.
This quote is taken from the university's Publishing Policy, which sets out the guidelines that researchers must adhere to when it comes to publishing research results. According to the policy, researchers employed at the university are recommended to publish in open access journals or, when this is not possible, to publish the full text of their article in the university's digital archive, which is accessible to all. Publications that are not journal articles must be made available in full text in the university's digital archive, the publication database.
Support for researchers at Luleå University of Technology
The University Library works to inform and provide support to researchers on how to act in order to publish openly. The library provides support in which publishers the university has open access agreements with, how the researcher should determine the quality and seriousness of a journal, how publishing costs work and how the researcher should think about open licenses to protect their copyright. In the same way, the library supports researchers in managing and publishing their research data so that it meets the requirements for accessibility, reusability and transparency. If you are a researcher at LTU, you can read more here.
- Research – support and information related to research at LTU
Support and information about research (internal page).
Support for everyone
The library works to provide information on how you as a citizen should do to gain access to open access material. Here you can find information on where to find open access publications, such as e-books and articles.
Open access to publications
The societal benefit and transparency of research as well as the opportunity for researchers to build on previous research results increases when scientific publications become available in full text through a search on the internet.
What is open access to publications?
Making scholarly publications openly accessible is an important part of open science. Scholarly publications include articles, books, conference papers, doctoral theses and reports.
In the past, these publications have been available through libraries or other institutions that have paid for subscriptions, purchased books and made dissertations and other publications available.
Open access provides the opportunity to find scientific publications in full text online. It creates direct access to research results regardless of which journals and books a specific institution or authority can pay for.
It is of great importance to the research community that research results can be evaluated, tested and be the basis for new steps in research. Open access is also important for the rest of society such as authorities, municipalities, regions, companies and the general public.
- What is open access?
Information from the National Library of Sweden about open access to scholarly publications.
Scientific articles
The change that is underway when it comes to electronic articles is about redirecting from a reading fee to a publishing fee. This means that the publisher charges the researcher a publication fee that covers peer reviewing and publishing of the article. The article then becomes available to everyone to read for free. The open license for the publication states how the material may be used, processed and distributed.
Predatory publishers
The downside of open access is what has come to be known as predatory journals. Predatory journals attract with fast open access publication for a fee, but they do not follow accepted working methods for scientific journals, they do not offer for example peer review.
Three models for open access
Currently, there are journals whose articles are directly open access, but also journals that offer some of their articles open accesswhile others are locked and can be accessed if you have a subscription.
The third model is that the journal allows the researcher to archive a copy of the article in an open digital archive. Most higher education institutions in Sweden have an open digital archive, and there is a national publication database that contains publications from all over Sweden.
- Databases
Find tools for locating open access articles and open digital repositories. - Think Check Submit – a tool for identifying credible journals
A checklist to help you assess whether a scholarly journal is trustworthy and follows established academic and ethical publishing standards.
Scientific e-books
Publishing scientific results within a defined subject in a book or, as it is called, monograph is important in certain research disciplines such as the humanities and social sciences. There is currently a lack of a national standard for peer review and a financing model for switching to publishing fee and offering open access to books. But several initiatives to address this are underway.
- E-books
Here you can find help with finding open access e-books.
Open access to research data
Making the data used in scientific studies openly available enables research results to be replicated and reused in new research.
What is open access to research data?
Research data is the data that has been collected or created during the course of research and is used in scientific studies. Examples of research data: measurement data, calculations, text data, interviews, survey results, images, videos, maps.
When this data is published with free access via the internet, it provides an opportunity for everyone to use it to validate the produced data and build on research results. Open data is a key part of open science.
- Open access to research data
Information from the Swedish Research Council about open access to research data.
How do I find research data that is openly available?
Research data is organised and made available in digital repositories. There are national, international and subject-specific repositories.
- Swedish National Data Service (SND)
Information on how to find and access research data from Sweden. - Researchdata.se
Information and guidance on finding, managing and sharing research data. - re3data
An international registry where you can find research data repositories across different subject areas.
Open source software
The source code that forms the basis for the software produced in research is considered to be a type of research data and therefore it needs to be made available and be possible to reuse and evaluate. The principles of open source software (OSS) can be used to ensure that research software is made available, reviewed, processed and improved.
How do I find open source software?
By using publicly available digital directories, so-called repositories, you can search for various open source software created by others.
Here are examples of large international repositories:
What should I consider when I want to use open data and open source?
Follow the licence terms and citation practices when reusing research data and software created by others.
- Creative Commons licenses
Learn more about the different licences and what they mean. - Learn how to cite
Information from the University Library on how to write references and cite sources.
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