Yhteiskuntatieteellisen tietoarkiston julkaisuja [Finnish Social Science Data Archive], 7 (2008)
In 2004, Ministers of science and technology of the OECD countries adopted a Declaration on Access to Research Data from Public Funding. In this declaration, they recognised the importance of access to research data and invited the OECD to develop a set of guidelines based on commonly agreed principles to facilitate optimal cost-eff ective access to digital research data from public funding. Th is request was taken up by OECD’s Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy, which launched a project by asking a group of experts to develop a set of principles and guidelines. Next, the developed principles and guidelines were submitted to an extensive consultation process, aft er which they were approved by the OECD’s Committee for Scientifi c and Technological Policy in October 2006, attached to an OECD Recommendation, and endorsed by the OECD Council in December 2006.
In 2006, the Ministry of Education in Finland allocated resources to the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD) to chart national and international practices related to open access to research data. Consequently, the FSD carried out an online survey targeting professors of human sciences, social sciences and behavioural sciences in Finnish universities. Some respondents were senior staff at research institutes. Th e respondents were asked about the state and use of data collected in their department/institute. Almost half of the respondents considered the preservation and use of digital research data to be relevant to their department. Th e number of respondents (150) is large enough to warrant statistical analysis even though response rate was low at 28%.
