Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) places great weight on the independence, soundness and dependability of its research and advisory activities, and on the provision of a reliable information infrastructure. As an independent research institution, the SWP supports the goal of making research findings freely accessible over the internet without financial, technical, or legal barriers. Optimal accessibility of relevant information is a fundamental precondition for first-class research, and equally necessary for sound consulting. For this reason, the SWP has adopted an Open Access Guideline (2018) and expanded it in December 2020 to include principles for handling research data at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik.
Dr. Isabelle Tannous,isabelle.tannous(at)swp-berlin.org; +49 30 88007-312.
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) places great weight on the independence, soundness and dependability of its research and advisory activities, and on the provision of a reliable information infrastructure. The purpose of SWP is to conduct scholarly research in the fields of international politics and foreign and security policy, in consultation with the German Bundestag and the German government, with the objective of providing independent research-based policy advice and publishing the findings where appropriate.
As an independent research institution, the SWP supports the goal of making research findings freely accessible over the internet without financial, technical, or legal barriers. Optimal accessibility of relevant information is a fundamental precondition for first-class research, and equally necessary for sound consulting. For these reasons SWP has signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities of 22 October 2003.
SWP supports its researchers in publishing their research findings in open access. To this end
SWP makes its own publications – with rare exceptions – freely available via the internet. They are accessible through the SWP website and permanently archived in full-text on the Social Science Open Access Repository (SSOAR), operated and certified by the GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.
SWP also seeks to make contributions by its researchers that appear in non–open access formats freely available within the scope offered by German copyright law. This may include parallel or later publication on the SWP website, sometimes in manuscript form.
SWP supports its researchers, where applicable and within reasonable limits, with funding for open access publication, and recommends the inclusion of open access options in external funding applications.
SWP supports authors by providing information and advice regarding legal questions connected to the open-access publication of their research findings.
SWP supports its researchers in providing access to their research data, in the interests of ensuring that research findings are verifiable and reproducible.
SWP will regularly review these Guidelines in light of developments and revise as necessary.
Stefan Schley, stefan.schley@swp-berlin.org, Fon.: +49 30 88007-440
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) places great weight on the independence, soundness and dependability of its research and advisory activities, and on the provision of a reliable information infrastructure. Research data forms the basis for and is the result of academic work. It is also an indispensable source for the traceability of research and advice. SWP makes research data available as an important component in its quality management for the purpose of safeguarding transparency, reproducibility and continued use.
By producing these guidelines, SWP is committing itself to the responsible handling of research data using the latest methods, and is building on its Open Access Guidelines.
At SWP, researchers are expressly asked to securely store research data in accordance with the recognised subject-specific standards based on the FAIR principles (as also described, for example, in the DFG Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice). Furthermore, they should document the data sufficiently, prepare it in a suitable way so it can be used again and publish it where appropriate.
As an institute, SWP has committed itself to fulfilling the principles formulated in the DFG codex. It is also creating the conditions and institutional infrastructure required for this. The responsibility for handling research data remains with the researchers. Research data is seen to be part of research work and belongs to the academic output of SWP.
Within its internal information infrastructure, SWP is continuing to expand the systems and staff required for research data management. Our aim is to advise and support researchers over the entire data lifecycle – from planning to the acquisition, selection and evaluation of data, and onto management with archiving, documentation and preparation of the data for further usage and publication. Researchers are asked to consult the responsible data analyst and the SWP research data management staff as early as possible in the research process.
Since the data is archived and verified in the SowiDataNet | datorium data archive or repository, it can be viewed as a research product in its own right and will remain available for a long period. When published, the data records are assigned persistent identifiers (DOI). They can also be found in larger research databases as standardised metadata is used in the descriptions.
SWP will review these guidelines on a regular basis in light of developments and revise them as necessary.
Specialist for data analysis: Paul Bochtler, paul.bochtler(at)swp-berlin.org; +49 30 88007-165
Paul Bochtler, paul.bochtler(at)swp-berlin.org; Fon.: +49 30 88007-165