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Open Research

 

The ORWG carried out a survey to help capture existing practices and perceptions of open research in different academic disciplines across the University. The group starts from the premise that research practices and perceptions of open research differ widely across the collegiate university and any future position statement on open research will need to reflect that diversity.

Open research is a broad spectrum of activities and the working group is not seeking to make any value judgements or to determine academic practice. Its remit is to help develop a deeper understanding of current practice – what is already happening in research – and to consider what an institutional position on open research could look like at a university like Cambridge, and how the University can best support its researchers in this regard.

The survey was intended to gather information and evidence about current open research practices in the University and to learn more about perceptions of open research by individuals and groups. The working group is sensitive to the wide disciplinary, and sub-disciplinary, experience and views of open research, including different views about open access. This is one of the reasons why the survey is being disseminated via each School representative on the working group so discipline-specific views can be captured. The survey is open to all; individual and group responses are welcome. The working group is also keen to hear from researchers at different career stages. Given there is a relationship between open access and the next REF, representatives on the group will also reach out for comment to REF Unit of Assessment leads [UoA] in their School.

The surveys closed on 4 June 2018, and the findings of the survey will be shared as an output of the Working Group. Using the evidence gathered, the Group will help steer the development of support for open research activities, including support to help meet funder expectations. Further consultation will take place on the future wording of an institutional statement about open research arising from this survey.

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Please contact us at info@osc.cam.ac.uk to be added to the mailing list to receive our quarterly e-Newsletter.

The Office of Scholarly Communication sends this Newsletter to its subscribers in order to disseminate information relevant to open access, research data management, scholarly communication and open research topics. For details on how the personal information you enter here is used, please see our privacy policy