Open Research Statement
Open Research advances knowledge at all stages and across all disciplines, both within academia and the wider society. This statement asserts the University of Sussex's strong commitment to the values, principles and culture of Open Research. It encourages and supports staff and students to explore and engage with Open Research practices in their work and study, to maximise the possibility of public and academic engagement and impact.
We interpret Open Research to include not just concepts of access, but also transparency, collegiality, experimentation, risk-taking, participation and sharing freely.
Benefits of Open Research:
- Greater dissemination of academic research to a wider audience
- Enhanced opportunities for generating impact
- Increased confidence in research results through greater transparency and rigour
- Accelerated innovation and translation of research into real-world benefits
- Improved accountability to those who invest in research, notably tax-payers
- Rapid compliance with research regulations
- Transparency in all areas of research and scholarship, helping to create a fairer and more inclusive research culture.
Our commitment:
The University of Sussex is committed to the long-term development of an Open Research culture. As part of the Sussex 2025 Research with Impact Strategy we identified an aim to embed a culture of collaboration, openness and inclusion, and in particular to develop a sector leading approach to Open Research.
We will push for transparency and openness across the whole research lifecycle, from Registered Reports and pre-prints, to dissemination and communication. We will look for ways to actively support members of our academic community to develop and innovate in open practices, including (but not limited to) open access publication, open data, open methods, open hardware and software, open educational resources and open peer review.
We will promote the benefits of reproducibility and re-use of data in line with FAIR principles. We will actively preserve digital resources so that vital research data can be stored safely and remain accessible.
Our commitment to Open Research is in line with the University’s commitment to the DORA principle of valuing the breadth of research outputs and scholarly activity. We acknowledge disciplinary differences and seek to embrace these in all areas of open research practice.
As part of our commitment, Open Research has been added as an explicit part of the portfolio of Prof Seb Oliver, Deputy PVC (Research), member of the University’s leadership team and chair of the University’s Open Research Group. The Group has Academic and Professional Services representatives from across the institution. It works closely with the Research Culture Steering Group and reports into the University’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee.