Adapted from Open UBC, with a CC-BY-SA Designation.
What is Open Research? #
Open Research is the effort to make the process, engagement, and results of research openly and freely available when feasible and appropriate. In the context of reproducibility, open research may be referred to as open science; for knowledge translation and inclusive research, it may be referred to as participatory research, stakeholder engagement, or citizen science; and in the context of publishing, open access.
Underlying principles of Open Research include transparency and sharing: transparency with funders, research partners, and the public at large; sharing of one’s outputs and knowledge dissemination. These principles are underpinned by strategies reflecting open discoverability and open access and embraces the tenet of getting it right, over getting it published.
Open Research helps to increase research awareness, enhance transparency in outputs, and minimize unnecessary duplication of efforts, while also helping to draw clear lines of distinction between exploratory and confirmatory research and to building trusting relationships between researchers and research partners. It can also contribute to better solutions to complex problems permitting knowledge to be shared as widely and as quickly as possible
How do I make my research open? #
- Use an online researcher profile (like ORCID) to make sure you are findable.
- Keep track of your data, sharing openly throughout the process (where appropriate).
- Work with open source tools.
- Choose a published who offers open access policies and supports open research.
- Publish pre-prints on venues like ARXIV.
- Share finished data sets and analysis (when possible and appropriate).
- Produce outputs that are usable by the community, especially when you are working with research partners.
Open research outputs can include publishing in open journals but can also involves less formal publication routes like blogging and podcasting.
