Open Science as Part of Research Culture. Positioning of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)

Related guidelines:

Researchers carry out each step of the research process lege artis. When research findings are made publicly available (in the narrower sense of pub- lication, but also in a broader sense through other communication channels), the quality assurance mechanisms used are always explained. This applies especially when new methods are developed.

Continuous quality assurance during the research process includes, in particular, compliance with subject-specific standards and established methods, processes such as equipment calibration, the collection, processing and analysis of research data, the selection and use of research software, software development and programming, and the keeping of laboratory notebooks.

If researchers have made their findings publicly available and subsequently become aware of inconsistencies or errors in them, they make the necessary corrections. If the inconsistencies or errors constitute grounds for retracting a publication, the researchers will promptly request the publisher, infrastructure provider, etc. to correct or retract the publication and make a corresponding announcement. The same applies if researchers are made aware of such inconsistencies or errors by third parties.

The origin of the data, organisms, materials and software used in the research process is disclosed and the reuse of data is clearly indicated; original sources are cited. The nature and the scope of research data generated during the research process are described. Research data are handled in accordance with the requirements of the relevant subject area. The source code of publicly available software must be persistent, citable and documented. Depending on the particular subject area, it is an essential part of quality assurance that results or findings can be replicated or confirmed by other researchers (for example with the aid of a detailed description of materials and methods).

As a rule, researchers make all results available as part of scientific/academic discourse. In specific cases, however, there may be reasons not to make results publicly available (in the narrower sense of publication, but also in a broader sense through other communication channels); this decision must not depend on third parties. Researchers decide autonomously – with due regard for the conventions of the relevant subject area – whether, how and where to disseminate their results. If it has been decided to make results available in the public domain, researchers describe them clearly and in full. Where possible and reasonable, this includes making the research data, materials and information on which the results are based, as well as the methods and software used, available and fully explaining the work processes. Software programmed by researchers them- selves is made publicly available along with the source code. Researchers provide full and correct information about their own preliminary work and that of others.

In the interest of transparency and to enable research to be referred to and reused by others, whenever possible researchers make the research data and principal materials on which a publication is based available in recognised archives and repositories in accordance with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Restrictions may apply to public availability in the case of patent applications. If self-developed research software is to be made available to third parties, an appropriate licence is provided.

In line with the principle of “quality over quantity”, researchers avoid split- ting research into inappropriately small publications. They limit the repetition of content from publications of which they were (co-)authors to that which is necessary to enable the reader to understand the context. They cite results previously made publicly available unless, in exceptional cases, this is deemed unnecessary by the general conventions of the discipline.

In its position paper entitled “Open Science as Part of Research Culture”(externer Link), the DFG sets out its existing positions on the issue of open science and examines the potential and challenges involved.

From the DFG’s point of view, while open science – i.e. the establishment and design of research practices and processes with the objective of making the research results openly accessible in the long term – serves good research practice, it can neither guarantee nor replace the latter.

Implemented in a way that is conducive to research, open science can help ensure good research practice by helping to do the following:

improve research processes and implement quality assurance processes more effectively based on publicly available information,
ensure replicability through increased transparency and simplified verifiability of research results, and
support and facilitate equal access to research information.

Furthermore, open science can help strengthen interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaboration and facilitate innovation.

Open science can be implemented at various points within the research process, for example in the pre-registration of research designs, in the documentation and archiving of research results and also in their publication in some form or other. Adherence to good research practice is an indispensable underlying condition for open science.

Open Science as Part of Research Culture. Positioning of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)

Cross-phase quality assurance

Providing public access to research results

See also

Tags

Open Science as Part of Research Culture. Positioning of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)

See also

Tags

Cookie Settings

Cookie settings