Open data has been rapidly gaining momentum over the past decade, with funders and institutions alike introducing data-sharing policies to align with frameworks like the FAIR Data principles. However, much of the conversation surrounding open data is primarily focused on research in the health and STEM fields. Open data within humanities and social sciences (HSS) research is often less frequently discussed and integrated into the research process.
Open Research Europe recently introduced new guidelines on open data and accessible source materials for HSS researchers. Today, we’re exploring what open data means for these research areas, the benefits of data sharing in HSS, and what’s required when submitting HSS research to Open Research Europe.
What is open data?
The term ‘open data’ is defined as data that anyone can freely access, reuse, or share. Open data practices are often referred to as ‘data sharing’.
For researchers, this refers to freely and openly sharing any information or materials that have been collected, created, or reused as part of a research project.
What does open data look like for humanities and social sciences research?
It can be easy to think that you don’t have any data to share as a humanities and social sciences researcher. However, that likely isn’t true – it’s probable that you work with lots of data, just under a different name.
Some examples of HSS data include materials like:
- Archival documents
- Interviews
- Images or photographs
- Maps
- Survey results
- Census information
- Newspaper clippings
- Case notes
- Field notes
These can take the form of materials that you have created yourself throughout your research project, or third-party materials that you have reused, for example from museums, galleries, or libraries.
Similarly, some HSS researchers may use more traditional forms of data in their research, such as software, online tools, and code.
Why should I share my humanities and social sciences data openly?
Increased credibility
Open data boosts the credibility of research and enhances the transparency of the research process.
By providing access to your data and source materials, as well as comprehensive information about them, others can reproduce the research. This can help to corroborate findings and, in turn, build trust in results.
When you enable the replication and validation of your research, others can ensure your conclusions are built upon a firm foundation, helping to demonstrate its robustness within the research community and beyond.
Enhanced visibility
If you publish your research as an article and deposit datasets in a repository, your work can be found via both routes. This can lead to more visibility of the research, as readers can discover and access it via both the journal and the repository.
Get credited
If your data is cited by another researcher in their work, you will get credit as the person who created it. Similarly, other stakeholders and third parties, such as museums and libraries, also get credit for making resources available.
Greater citations
There is evidence that open data sharing is associated with increased citations, with one study finding that sharing data openly in repositories is associated with up to 25% more citations to the research paper.
Open Research Europe’s data policy
At Open Research Europe, our data guidelines requires that researchers make their research data ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’ in alignment with the policies of Horizon Europe.
This means that all data and supporting materials must be shared at the time of submission unless there are commercial, privacy, security, or confidentiality concerns to consider which are detailed in the Horizon Europe Grant Agreement.
Sharing this data requires several steps, including storing data in an open repository and including a data availability statement alongside the article. A data availability statement provides detailed information about where data is located and how it can be accessed by others.
Open data guidelines for humanities and social sciences researchers
We recognize that open data may be an unfamiliar concept to some HSS researchers. As a result, we’ve recently released new Open Data and Accessible Source Materials Guidelines for HSS researchers.
These guidelines outline everything you need to know when submitting your HSS research to Open Research Europe, including:
- The Open Research Europe definition of open data and accessible source materials
- Understanding exactly what steps are required when submitting an article
- Specific guidance on new datasets you have generated
- Specific guidance on existing datasets you have reused
- Specific guidance on accessible source materials
- An overview of FAIR Data principles
- A list of Open Research Europe-approved repositories for HSS
View the HSS data guidelines in full before starting your submission.
Limited open data exceptions
We realize that there may be some cases where researchers have concerns over data sharing, for example due to privacy and confidentiality concerns for human research participants or copyright concerns when using third-party data.
The new guidelines outline the exceptions to these data-sharing policies, as well as provide further information about how to approach a submission in these cases. Additionally, our editorial team can provide support and guidance on how to meet the Open Research Europe data policy while maintaining the appropriate level of security for these datasets.
Join the growing number of Open Research Europe authors today
Research from humanities, social sciences, and the arts has made up over 34% of all research published with Open Research Europe since its launch in 2021.
If you’d like to be the next HSS researcher to benefit from open access publishing, open peer review, and comprehensive editorial support for your Horizon, Marie Curie, or COST Action funded research, learn more why you should consider submitting your research to the platform.
