Our commitment to open research
We follow the principles enshrined in the Declaration for Open Science and Research (avointiede.fi). We recommend that research results be published in a way that makes them immediately accessible to all free of charge and in their entirety. We also recommend providing open access to data and methods.
The principles of open research apply to all our researchers, experts and interns.
We strongly recommend researchers to use the ORCID iD.
We recommend that publishing agreements on research not published in Kela’s own series specify the use of the Creative Commons licence to ensure open access to the research. This recommendation also applies to research data.
Open access and accessibility in Kela research publications
In our research publications, we follow the principles of open access by making them freely and immediately available in electronic format in the University of Helsinki HELDA digital archive. During the editing, we ensure that our publications also meet the relevant accessibility criteria. There is a charge for printed copies.
Kela’s research publications may be copied, printed out and used in accordance with the Kopiosto Copying Licence.
Parallel publishing of Kela’s research publications in other archives is not allowed as a general rule. However, metadata may be stored in other archives or databases provided that a permanent identifier for the original open-access publication is added to the metadata.
Kela does not charge authors published in its research publication series any author fees. A written agreement drawn up with the author spells out clearly the terms and conditions governing the publishing and the copyrights.
Open access to research data and methods
Kela’s research unit encourages researchers to make their data and methods openly available. We follow the principle of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” when opening up access to research data. The decision as to whether to provide open access to data is made by the individual researcher or team of researchers.
Kela's research unit works extensively with individual-level register data available only to those with a permit from the data controller. Such data cannot be made available on an open-access basis.
We encourage researchers to have an open approach with respect to other types of research materials (such as questionnaires, interviews and documentary data). It is important to recognise the potential of providing open access to data at the various stages of the research project, starting with the planning.
We also encourage researchers to provide open access to source codes and research methods. Doing so will promote transparency and further efforts to improve research tools and methods.
