Towards a sustainable and responsible model for monitoring open science and research—analysis of the Finnish model for monitoring open science and research

Abstract

Abstract Advancing and supporting the development of open science practices is of global interest, and subsequently also the monitoring of the ongoing developments is more and more on the agenda. In Finland, monitoring open science has a relatively long history, and the first evaluation of research performing and research funding organisations took place already in 2015. The system has evolved over the years, and in 2019 the responsibility for monitoring was transferred from the Ministry of Education and Culture to the research community. This article looks at the latest monitoring, conducted in Spring 2022 from the point of view of its compliance with the principles of responsible research assessment. To structure the analysis we have used the SCOPE framework designed to enable planning and conducting evaluations responsibly. As a conclusion we find there are four main challenges in the current model for monitoring open science in Finland: 1) the model leaves very little room for internal discussion or decision-making within organisations, 2) the model focuses too much on organizational developments and largely ignores national and international developments, 3) the model essentially reduces very complex issues into numbers, and 4) the organisations are monitored against a set of objectives without giving them enough time to realize expected reforms.