Scientific Information Retrieval

The basic idea of open science and research in the Finnish research establishment is as follows: Research results (publications, data, methods, and the tools needed to produce research publications) are openly available and usable over a long period of time in data networks through an open interface in compliance with ethical research principles and in line with the legal operating environment. Legislation and treaties allowing, the starting point is always to achieve an open research environment. Further use of research results is not groundlessly restricted and the terms of use are clearly pointed out.

1. Publishing in an open access (OA) journal (golden OA)
   • the articles are available to everyone
   • often the author must pay for publishing an article (APC, article publishing charge)
   • they have often not reached the same level of recognition as traditional, chargeable journals
2. Traditional publishing in a pay-for-access scientific journal
   • the articles are available only where the journal is subscribed
   • no author’s fee (usually)
   • the most highly esteemed journals in the academic world often belong to these
   • an article can in most cases be deposited in the university’s institutional repository (green OA)
   • The Open Science policy of the University of Lapland recommend self-archiving of publications whenever it is possible according to the publishing contracts.
   • The publication data of the personnel of the University of Lapland are registered in the LaCRIS database

How to find these OA-publications

The openness of science has mainly developed only in the 2010s, which is why publications older than that are less open. Lots of old publications (before 20th century) have been digitized during last decades and they are freely available. 

Predatory journals

There are also open access publications of dubious nature, called predatory journals. Their main goal is to earn money by article processing charges, their peer-reviewing practices are not acceptable, they typically cannot guarantee the visibility of their articles, and they may at worst even vanish altogether.

You can use data produced by others in your own research, such as a bachelor's thesis or a thesis. Open data is increasingly available through data archives. Before you start collecting your own research data, check out what kind of data are already availably.

Tools for finding existing datasets

Data citation

Research data requires citations for the same reasons journal articles and other types of publications require citations. Purpose of citing data is to acknowledge the original producer of the data and to help other researchers find the resource. The minimum information of a data citation:

• Persistent identifier (PID)
• Author – the creator of the dataset;  an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization.
• Publication year – the date the dataset was made available
• Title –  the name of the dataset, and the titles of the top collection and main parent sub-collection (if any) of which the dataset is a part
• Publisher – the organization hosting the data