Are there any exceptions to full open access?
UKM
Last Update 10 months ago
Yes. The second paragraph of Article 41 of the Scientific Research and Innovation Activities Act provides specific exceptions to open-access requirements. The researcher must justify any restriction in the Research Data Management Plan (RDMP).
Open access may be restricted in the following cases:
protection of intellectual property (e.g. the research includes technical data or descriptions of a process that is subject to a patent or a patent application)
protection of personal data (e.g. the research contains sensitive personal information, such as health-related data about study participants)
protection of the safety of individuals or the country (e.g. the research includes information about vulnerabilities in an institution’s cybersecurity system. To prevent potential misuse, the results cannot be made openly accessible).
It is important to note that the Decree on the Implementation of Scientific Research Work in Accordance with the Principles of Open Science is relatively new, and there is no established case law yet. The examples listed above are illustrative and do not represent court decisions or official guidelines.