Open Data

„Open Data“ logo free for non-commercial use, DMCA

Research data is any information related to scientific activity, whether digital, digitalized or non-digital. Most typically, these are text documents, spreadsheets, images and photographs, audio and video recordings, laboratory notebooks, field notes, diary entries, software, questionnaires and their evaluation, interview transcripts, samples, specimens or artefacts.

Open data is data that can be used or shared in any way, by anyone, at any time, repeatedly and for any purpose. Open data is one of the basic requirements of funders (e.g. Horizon Europe and others). In addition, open data has major advantages:

• Research results can be critically examined, reviewed, and verified
• Making data public and open means more subsequent citations
• Existing public data does not need to be recreated for further research or analysis
• New insights are gained by using data from different sources
• The research process can be faster and more efficient, or cheaper

Open data supplied should be FAIR, thus it must be:

• Findable: The data and related materials must be stored in a reliable and appropriate location, have sufficiently detailed descriptive metadata, and have a unique and persistent identifier, such as a DOI (Digital Object Identifier).

• Accessible: All metadata and data should be comprehensible to humans and computers under clearly defined conditions. Data should be stored in a reliable repository and freely available for downloads. If data cannot be made available, metadata should be openly accessible.

• Interoperable: Metadata should use standardised formats and languages, data description standards and controlled vocabulary standards. Another important thing is the link between the metadata of the dataset and other related publications and outputs – as well as links to authors, institutions, other projects, and outputs.

• Reusable: The data have the least restrictive license which allows reuse; they have rich metadata descriptions, clear instructions and information on accessibility, origin and how to obtain the data. Standards common in the discipline are respected.

Not all open data is FAIR (OPEN ≠ FAIR)

There is a common belief that FAIR-compliant data must also be open without any restriction, but this is a misunderstanding. The goal of data availability is the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary.”

It is always desirable to open all data except where legal considerations prevent it. There are several cases where data cannot be opened by default, for example data covered by intellectual property rights or data that are sensitive in nature - especially those containing personal data. Such data can only be made public if we anonymise it. And to comply with the FAIR Principles, it is sufficient to publish metadata.

Freely available open sources:

arXiv – archiv pro elektronické preprinty a vědecké materiály z oblasti fyziky, matematiky, počítačové vědy a kvantitativní biologie a nelineárních věd.

Caritas et Veritas - odborný časopis zaměřující se na reflexi křesťanských souvislostí v sociálních a humanitních oborech vydávaný Teologickou fakultou Jihočeské univerzity.

DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals - databáze časopisů s otevřeným přístupem, možnost vyhledávání dle názvu časopisu i jednotlivých článků.

Google Books - databáze knih z celého světa obsahující nejen záznamy, ale mnohdy i plné texty.

Google Scholar - vyhledávač záznamů i plných textů studijních materiálů napříč všemi obory.

PLoS JOURNALS - multioborová databáze společnosti Public Library of Science zpřístupňující plné texty elektronických časopisů.

RePEc - digitální knihovna tvořená dobrovolníky ze 75 zemí zaměřená na ekonomické obory.