Special Issue: Open science and open information

This special issue is thematically focused on open science and open information as perceived through the broad context of information science. Science and research has been going through a gradual shift where Internet technologies have transformed research processes and scholarly communication. The current state of openness in science has been shaped, and continues to be shaped, by strong interest from multiple directions. Fully understanding what the increasing openness implies for the possibilities and circumstances for conducting information science research has yet to be realized, both within the Finnish and the broader international context.

Through its activities the public sector produces large volumes of information and data that has a large potential for societal benefit if made widely available. Opening up such materials increases societal transparency, provides datasets for research, and can even support the creation of new commercial activities. However, when such materials include data describing or collected from individuals the needs of privacy and anonymization might pose obstacles for complete openness.

This list contains some examples for topics relevant to the special issue:

  • Open access
  • Open data
  • Open research methods (incl. software and source code)
  • Open research infrastructures
  • Open data in society
  • Open peer-review
  • Data privacy and anonymization
  • New research approaches based enabled by openness
  • Science policy and its impacts
  • Copyright and openness
  • Commercial interests and openness
  • Incentives for openness
  • Facilitators and barriers to openness
  • Measurement and monitoring of openness
  • Licensing of materials

Other perspectives on the on the general theme of openness in the context of information research are also welcome. If you are uncertain about the suitability of a topic you are considering for your manuscript please be in contact with the guest editor (mikael.laakso@hanken.fi) before preparing the manuscript for submission. Manuscripts can be in the form of research articles, review articles, presentations or reviews of literature, or summaries of academic thesis´. Research articles will be subject to peer-review. In accordance with the general guidelines of the journal the language of manuscripts can be in either English, Finnish, or Swedish.

Information about the journal and author instructions: https://journal.fi/inf/about.

Schedule for the special issue

  • 15.6.2018 – Manuscripts submitted to the journal
  • 15.8.2018 – Peer-review of manuscripts completed
  • 15.10.2018 – Potential revisions to performed and manuscripts re-submitted to journal
  • 1.11.2018 – Final decisions on publication of individual manuscripts
  • December 2018 – The special issue will be published as the 4/2018 issue of Informaatiotutkimus

The guest editor for the special issue is: Mikael Laakso, Associate Professor, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland.