The core principle behind open science is that scientific information and findings should be distributed as soon and as widely as possible. The principle of openness covers the entire research process, from materials to methods and publications. Openness in research promotes cooperation between researchers and the transparency and availability of research data.
Uniarts Helsinki encourages openness in its researchers throughout the entire research process. As a rule, research projects are open by principle if there is no separate justifiable reason to keep them closed.
The principle of openness in research must be considered at the very planning stages of the project. Project financiers are requiring open modes of operating more and more frequently. Check the financier’s requirements for the openness of research data and publications.
While openness is important, any possible legislation and ethical principles limiting it must also be considered. Some justifiable reasons for keeping the research data closed include the sensitive nature of the data, copyright or agreements between the research team and organisation. Special care must be taken with research materials that include personal data.
Data management should follow the general principles of openness in research: as open as possible, as closed as necessary. According to the Uniarts Helsinki research data policy, research data are shared and open on principle. If the openness of the research data must be restricted, the decision must be backed up with justifiable and provable reasons. Open research data must mention the name of the financier and the ID number of the funding decision.
Uniarts Helsinki promotes open publishing in its publishing activities. The two open publication models are Golden Open Access and Green Open Access. The Golden model favours open access magazines, while the Green model promotes the use of open publication archives (parallel publishing).
The Uniarts Helsinki HELDA database provides a parallel publishing option. You can find more in-depth instructions on parallel publishing in the Uniarts Helsinki Publication Guide. Many financiers accept article processing charge (APC) as a project expense if it is created during the project. For APC related matters, please contact the Uniarts Helsinki Publication Specialist.
Openess in research materials
Tiia Saarinen
Open publishing
Merja Sagulin
Riikka Palonkorpi
Maaria Harviainen (Library)
Harri Ollikainen
The Ministry of Education and Culture’s Open Science and Research initiative recommends that research results be published under a Creative Commons licence or as open source code. More information: