Guidance on open research

The National Office for Research Ethics Committees is committed to supporting the Irish research community to move towards a more open, equitable and transparent research environment.

Open access is the practice of providing online access to scientific information that is free and open to the public. The key principles of open research are:

• where possible, outputs from research should be freely accessible to maximise re-use to amplify social, economic and research benefits;
• open access to publications and research data stimulates high-quality research by being transparent, opening research to scrutiny and by evidencing research findings;
• sharing of research outputs must conform to all relevant ethical and legal obligations and conform with the principle of being as open as possible and as closed as necessary;
• open research means acting in a manner which considers public value for money and affordability.

Research bodies increasingly require that both research articles and the underlying data and code be made openly available. Check with your host institution or study sponsor if this is a requirement for your study.

The National Office encourages the research community, where possible, to make their research outputs openly available to support a more transparent and high-quality research environment.

Please see the ‘National Framework on the Transition to an Open Research Environment’ for more information on the national commitment from the Irish research community on open research practices.