Responsible science
Responsibility is an integral part of our activities. We fund high-quality, high-impact and innovative research in a responsible manner.
In the context of responsible science, we take into account research ethics, equality and nondiscrimination, open science, sustainable development goals and the principles of responsible researcher evaluation. Our aim is thereby to strengthen the quality and impact of research.
As regards research ethics, responsible science concerns ethical questions related to research topics, methods and materials, as well as to research permits granted and pending.
When it comes to equality and nondiscrimination, responsible science has to do with promoting equality and nondiscrimination in research projects or in society at large.
As regards open science, responsible science is related to publication plans that support open access. We require that the projects we fund commit to open access publishing. We also require a brief data management plan describing how the data will be stored during the project, how any legal and ethical issues related to data distribution will be resolved, and where the data will be made available after the end of the project.
In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, questions of responsible science relate to describing how a project can contribute to one or more of the SDGs. Read more about the goals on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
As regards responsible researcher evaluation, the issues of responsible science are related to that our review processes and criteria are described openly and that reviewers are made familiar with responsible assessment. Instead of journal-based metrics, responsible research evaluation primarily assesses the quality of research outputs and takes into account the diversity of research careers as well as career breaks. In addition, the decision-making takes into account the wide range of career paths, impact and the promotion of open science.
