The German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) attaches particular importance to the independence, quality and reliability of its research and advisory activities and the provision of an innovative information infrastructure. The purpose of the Foundation is to carry out scientific studies in the fields of international politics and foreign and security policy in consultation with the German Bundestag and the Federal Government with the aim of providing policy advice on the basis of independent scientific research.
The optimal availability of relevant information and data is a prerequisite for excellent research and successful consulting. For this reason, SWP signed the 2003 Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities in December 2018. SWP sees open science as an important contribution to the quality assurance of its own research and advisory services and is therefore committed to the basic principles of transparency, reproducibility and reusability as components of open science.
With this Open Science Policy adopted in 2024, the SWP integrates and updates its Open Access Guideline (2018) on the realisation of unrestricted and free access to scientific publications and its Research Data Guideline (2020) on the sustainable publication and archiving of research data and expands it to include the aspect of research software and code.
SWP attaches particular importance to a legally compliant and ethical framework as well as the custody of the information and contacts entrusted to it. The core characteristic of its work, which is consistently carried out from multiple perspectives, is its scientific nature. The SWP is independent in the selection of topics and the decision on their processing; the selection criterion is political relevance from the SWP's point of view. Oral consultations are confidential and SWP events are generally held in accordance with the Chatham House Rule.
In line with the DFG, the SWP therefore does not necessarily equate open science with the open design of the entire research and consultation process (open science by design). The SWP expressly supports the main objective of open science to organise scientific practices and processes in such a way that research results are made openly accessible in the long term, thereby ensuring reproducibility and better usability by researchers and other stakeholders (open science by publication).
The continuous development of corresponding infrastructures and research-related services supports researchers in establishing and applying open science principles and practices. 1
The SWP supports the demand to make scientific research results accessible in digital form via the Internet at any time and without financial, technical or legal barriers.
The SWP makes its research findings accessible to a broad public via scientific publications, the website and social media and supports its scientists with a wide range of advisory services for the publication of their research findings in open access.
Measures
Institute's own publication formats
The SWP
Support and advice for researchers
The SWP
Research data is the basis and result of scientific work and an indispensable source for the traceability of research and advice. As an institution, the SWP is committed to fulfilling the principles formulated in the DFG Code of Conduct "Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice" (2019) and supports researchers in research data management as an important component of their quality assurance. The handling of research data remains the responsibility of the researchers. Researchers are obliged to prepare research data in accordance with subject-specific standards and in line with the FAIR principles, to store it securely, to document it sufficiently, to prepare it appropriately for reuse and, in suitable cases, to publish it.
Measures
Institutional research data management
The SWP
Support and advice for researchers
The SWP
Research software must meet the same principles and strict requirements that researchers and research funding organisations expect from publications, data and infrastructures. It is therefore important to the SWP to design research software that is sustainable, open and reusable for third parties and to create the necessary conditions for this. When developing and using research software, the SWP, in agreement with the DFG, recommends examining the use of free software and avoiding so-called lock-in effects, i.e. dependencies in the generation, processing and use of software.
The software developed for research purposes should, where possible and reasonable, be made available under an open licence and reusable for third parties. This also includes the archiving and publication of source code for computer-aided processing and calculations, such as those required for the further use and replication of published research data.
Open Science is a moving target. Standards, issues and opportunities are constantly changing. The SWP will therefore regularly evaluate its Open Science policy and revise it if necessary.
In the event of any discrepancies or inconsistencies, the German version of the SWP Open Science Policy shall prevail and be considered the authoritative reference.
1 Current principles, such as the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science (2021), the conclusions of the EU Council on Science Assessment and Open Science (2022) and the positioning of the German Research Foundation on Open Science (2022), will guide our actions.
Stefan Schley, stefan.schley(at)swp-berlin.org, Fon.: +49 30 88007-440
Paul Bochtler, paul.bochtler(at)swp-berlin.org; Fon.: +49 30 88007-165