From Open Knowledge Foundation

Is It Open FAQ

These items get added to about or guide page of Is It Open site.

What is Data?

For the purposes of this project, data includes all primary experimental data published within or alongside research papers. This could be:

• Anything co-published with the full text of a scholarly article, that is labeled as supporting or supplemental information or data (or similar terms)
• The content of any table or graph primarily concerned with experimental data.
• Any image acting as the primary way of capturing or reporting science e.g. Protein gels.
• Any audio or video stream representing primary data capture e.g. Moving physical objects.

What is Open Data?

Open scientific data comprises results of scientific research that are accessible and freely re-usable without additional permissions. A full definition of openness is available at [1]. Data is closed if it requires additional permission or payment for its reuse in further research.

Why Is Open Data Needed?

Scientists produce a vast amount of data in the course of their research. In the Internet age, this data can and should be available to be used as an input into new research, but for this to happen the data needs to be explicitly labelled as open.

What's the Problem?

In practice it is often unclear whether the data on publisher's websites is openly available i.e accessible and freely re-usable without additional permission. In some cases, publishers may even restrict access to data by adding specific terms and conditions.

This despite the fact that Scholars donate their data to the community, without payment, through the publication process. They assume that anyone can then use their data for additional research and education, with the only requirement being that the original researchers are acknowledged.

This view is also supported by some publishers' organizations; for example the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM) have issued a statement endorsing this approach to data access.

Don't authors sign their data over?

Many publishers require that authors sign a transfer of copyright for their submitted manuscripts. We make no comment on Closed and Open Access to full text articles here, but argue (along with many authorities) that the data associated with publications belongs to the community and should be open.

How do I find out if data is open?

The first method is to look on the publisher's website for their terms and conditions regarding use of their data. This may categorically state that they reserve rights to all data, alternatively they may clearly apply an open knowledge license to their data (see [2] for a list of such licenses). If the situation is ambiguous or unclear somebody may have requested clarification in the past (please check the Archive). If not, an enquiry can be made through the website.

What is the criteria for changing an Enquiry Status from Unresolved to Resolved?

We don't have any specific policy on this at the moment.

I want to help pursue Is It Open enquiries.

How can I edit the Is It Open pages to add my email correspondence, or otherwise submit my sent and received emails?

At the moment there is no easy way to do this. One obvious option would be to copy the existing thread from your last email into the first enquiry you send (perhaps at the bottom after the main body of text).

Are there other things I should know before jumping in?

Nope! Just dive in and be bold!