Open science (OS) is a movement within the academic world that places emphasis on transparency in all phases of scientific research, from the collection of empirical data, to the final publication of results.
Open science is a collective term covering, among other things, concepts such as open access (OA), open educational resources (OER) and open data management.
The driving force behind OS is the developments in digital technology that enable the sharing and reuse of research data, while making the research process more transparent through, for instance, the sharing of data, tools for analysis and open peer review.
Opening up research processes makes research more robust, the results accessible to all, and from a societal perspective, it saves resources through the sharing of data.
In its Policy for research integrity, freedom of research and responsible conduct of research, Aarhus University encourages researchers to contribute to the open agenda:
“Anyone contributing to research activities at Aarhus University must seek to openly and honestly communicate their research and research results by presenting and discussing data, research method and process as well as research results with fellow researchers and the general public.”
Open science and the Royal Danish Library/AU Library
The Royal Danish Library supports the OS philosophy through many different services, and is in constant dialogue with researchers and students in relation to developing new services. Read more about how the library supports OS.
If you want to make your data open in accordance with OS, you are advised to follow the FAIR data principles. If you follow the FAIR data principles, you will improve the visibility and transparency of your data and make it more useful to researchers and all other users.
The FAIR data principles are a set of guiding principles for making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable.
Read more about the FAIR principles.
AU Library offers a range of services that support OS and provides access to tools which aid such, for example, open data management, in connection with the publication, storage and visualisation of data, as well as open educational resources.
AU Library regularly organises events which generally cover topics relating to open science.
AU Library Arts Digital Lab (in Danish) hosts workshops and webinars on how to use open research analysis tools such as R and Python, coding languages to analyse large amounts of text.
BSS DataLab offers training in various tools that support open resources and tools. For example: Whisper, VOSviewer, Eikon, Orbis, R, Python and more.
Keep an eye on the calendar to find upcoming events.
