SNSF Open Research Data Policy

Managing and sharing research data as openly as possible is one of the principles of good scientific practice. Julia Cahenzli Jenkins, who works in career funding at SNSF, gave an introduction to the SNSF Open Research Data (ORD) Policy. It was established in 2017 and states that any data collected in a SNSF funded project must be made available to other researchers and integrated into recognized data pools. This practice is fundamental for the impact, transparency, and reproducibility of research.

Furthermore, when submitting an application to the SNSF, researchers are required to enclose a Data Management Plan (DMP). The aim of the DMP is to encourage researchers to reflect on research data management and data sharing before the start of their project and plan the data life cycle accordingly. The DMP is also the way in which the SNSF implements its policy: all data has to be shared in a FAIR data repository by the time of publication at the latest.

Cahenzli Jenkins also elaborated on the principles of data sharing. At a minimum, the data underlying the publication has to be shared to the extent that the published results are reproducible and it has to include metadata to ensure the reusability of the data. The shared (meta-)data must adhere to a «light» version of the FAIR principles that the SNSF has decided on.

A first monitoring report of the SNSF policy indicates that the research community has well integrated the open research data principles into their research routines. The next steps to be taken are efforts to maintain and strengthen the learning process within the research communities. Moreover, SNSF reflects on a national open data strategy with swissuniversities. SNSF continuously updates the information on the topic on its website.

• Slides: DMPs and funder requirements →