Openness and transparency are fundamental scholarly values which characterise responsible research practices. Transparency is crucial for maintaining the credibility of research. Open science and research aim to make knowledge accessible to everyone with minimal restrictions, benefiting society, research itself, and individual researchers.

Access to research-based knowledge is a matter of sustainability and equality. Access to both publicly funded and other research outcomes is not only an essential right in a welfare society, but also crucial for translating the research outcomes into practice. Open science constitutes a form of collaboration with society and contributes to a firm basis in reality: access to qualitative, well-articulated research-based information serves as a means to counter conspiracy theories and misleading information in society.

For researchers, open science offers increased citation opportunities, more collaborations, and greater visibility for their own research. Open access to research outcomes in various forms accelerates the dissemination of the latest research findings for verification, validation, and further research, thereby contributing to the quality of research.

Policy for open science and research at Åbo Akademi University

Åbo Akademi University is committed to following the principles of the national declaration for open science and research (2020-2025). The basic principles for open science and research at ÅAU are the following:

• Open science and research are responsible research practices. 
• Åbo Akademi University provides all its affiliated researchers support to enable them to conduct research and teaching in responsible and transparent ways
• The aim of Åbo Akademi University is to promote open science and research not only for the sake of science and the researchers at ÅAU, but also to contribute to a sustainable future.

The ÅAU policy for open science, research and education consist of the following:

1. Guidelines for open access publishing
2. Guidelines for open access to research materials, methods and research infrastructures
3. Guidelines for open education and open educational resources
4. Guidelines for openness in academic merits and assessment of researchers and research
5. Guidelines for open scholarship

Åbo Akademi University supports infrastructures for open science

Åbo Akademi University supports infrastructures for open publishing and other infrastructures and services that promote open science and research. The ÅAU library supports the following infrastructures, through memberships via the library consortium FinELib or direct memberships:

• ArXiv
• Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• DSpace
• Knowledge Unlatched
• Open Book Publishers
• Open Citations
• Open Library of Humanities
• Public Knowledge Project (PKP)
• SCOAP3
• Sherpa Romeo

Do you have any questions about open science and research at Åbo Akademi University? Do not hesitate to contact openscience@abo.fi