In recent years, Norwegian researchers have increasingly published their research in open access journals. Some go one step further and share their data.
Photo: Colourbox
When TIK researchers Lars Wenaas and Magnus Gulbrandsen were planning to publish a new study in autumn 2022, it was clear to them that it should be published in an open access journal.
"Given that I'm writing my doctoral thesis on open access, it'd be strange if I'd decided to do anything else," says Wenaas, and is backed up by his colleague Gulbrandsen.
However, the two went even further. They had analysed around 180 documents. From these, they had retrieved a large series of abstracts and information that provided the material on which they based their research. They chose to publish this at the same time as the study.
Stricter requirements from the Research Council of Norway
Publishing the data set behind a study was a first for Gulbrandsen, who has a long research career behind him.
"The most common thing to do is to write a long method section and use this as the grounds for why the reader should trust you. I think going a step further is cool," he says.
The Research Council has followed the global open access trend and given Norwegian researchers a little nudge: open publishing, in some form or other, is a prerequisite for project funding, unless the researchers have good reasons for not doing it.
In 2017, the Research Council also decided that researchers who received support from them must consider producing a data management plan. This should, among other things, show whether the data will be shared and, if so, how.
