Open science or open research is a collective term that denotes open research processes, open access to publications and data, along with user participation in research (so-called citizen science).
Ownership and basic principles
Data collected by STAMI is the property of STAMI.
STAMI’s data must be interoperable, reproducible and verifiable, cf. the international FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable). Data that STAMI uses for its own research and method development is handled in line with the government’s strategy for sharing research data or making it available. When reusing STAMI’s data, third parties must follow the same principles for STAMI’s data sets.
STAMI handles data in accordance with national laws and regulations for collection, quality assurance, archiving and dissemination. Data that is released from STAMI must be released with an agreement with the data owner, regardless of whether the data is owned by STAMI or other external businesses.
User license
In order to ensure STAMI’s and the authors’ right to be named in the further use of data, and to ensure freedom from liability in further use, data from STAMI should be published under open data licenses such as Creative Commons.
Datasets
A dataset is an organised collection of data. The datasets at STAMI may include:
- Business data
- Personal data of special categories (sensitive information)
- Personal data
- Non-personal data
Projects involving the processing of personal data are reported to Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (SIKT) (a service provider to the knowledge sector). In case of increased risk, a Data Protection Impact Assessment – DPIA (an assessment of the consequences on privacy) is carried out.
Research that aims to generate new knowledge about health and disease is reported to the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK). REK processes the application and gives the necessary prior approval for initiating the project.
Exceptions for providing open access to STAMI’s data
- In cases where making the data available might threaten the safety of individuals or the nation, or is contrary to the applicable regulations for privacy or other legal provisions, the datasets must not be made openly available.
- In cases where making the data available can be used to identify businesses that have participated in STAMI’s research projects, the datasets must not be made openly available.
- In the interests of publication and project collaboration, full availability of specific data can be postponed for up to 10 years after the end of the project. Whether the metadata can be released earlier must always be considered.
- The agreement on postponement when there is a binding agreement with a third party must contain a date for the cancellation of the exception. As this will affect data availability, and thus STAMI’s data policy, such agreements must be approved by STAMI’s director.
Data management plan
A data management plan describes how data should be handled during the project period and after project completion. Its purpose is to ensure that the different aspects of handling research data, such as the collection or generation, processing, analysis, preparation of documentation, as well as the storage and future sharing of data, are assessed. A data management plan helps to ensure that research data is handled in a legal, structured and secure manner, and that the data is stored, reused and understood in the future.
The preparation of a data management plan at the start of a research project is important to ensuring that anonymised research data will be shared after project completion, in accordance with requirements defined in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR – Personvernsforordningen).
Disputes
The handling of any disagreements about ownership and access to data is regulated at agreement level in each project.