Supporting Open Science in Norway
OpenAIRE offers a wide range of services that already contribute to our Open Science efforts
"OpenAIRE has a long and strong commitment to training and support for putting Open Science into practice"
by Jens H. Aasheim
The OpenAIRE team has the pleasure of speaking to Jens H. Aasheim, Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Centre for Research Data. Read his reflections on Open Science.
How does UNIT support Open Science in Norway?
First of all, as of 2022, we are now call Sikt. This is the result of a merger, with amongst others The Norwegian Centre for Research Data. Our new profile gives us a broader scope of services to support Open Science, and we support Norwegian research performing institutions with:
- DMP tools.
- Research data archives.
- Publication repositories.
- Openscience.no - a national website dedicated to OS information and services. This includes monitoring the growth of open access and also hosting the Open Science Toolbox. New FAIR services stemming from a recent report will also be published here.
- Consortia agreements with publisher. Such as Publish and Read agreements with legacy publishers and agreements with Gold OA publishers, but also alternative agreements and models. Like Diamond OA models and coordinating membership models in Open Library of Humanities, SciPost and SCOAP3, as well as DOAJ and SherpaRoMEO.
When and why did you decide to join OpenAIRE and become a NOAD?
What do you think is missing in Norway to fully embrace Open Science?
What are your top three priorities you will focus on in the next year?
- Continue to ensure growth in OA through consortia negotiations with publishers and encourage alternative models (Diamond OA).
- Work with the findings of the recent FAIR research data report to facilitate services that will enable the practice of Open Science.
- Help with training and support for researchers to make their research results FAI.
How do you think OpenAIRE will help you succeed?
There is a new collaboration between OpenAIRE and the Research Council of Norway (RCN). How did it start and why is it important?
We have a close collaboration with the RCN, a well-established exchange of data is just one example of this. For instance, the national CRIS collects and contains data linking research publications to RCN project funding. As the OpenAIRE NOAD, we saw untapped potential in making use of services like the OpenAIRE Monitor. Not only in terms of enriching the data both we and the RCN already have, but also taking advantage of OpenAIRE's ability to catch and identify research output linked to RCN funding that may have somehow slipped through undetected by other data sources. To reap the rewards of Open Science, FAIR data and an upgraded research assessment system we need to expand our analytical capabilities and improve our data quality. Crosschecking and enriching based on multiple trusted sources, like OpenAIRE, is an important part of that.
Get in touch with our NOAD in Norway!

Jens H. Aasheim
When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them.