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Open science at SLU

Page reviewed:  25/05/2026

What is open science? On this page, we provide you with entry points to explore and make use of open science at SLU. You’ll also get an overview of how SLU works with these issues, along with some examples.

Explore and make use of SLU’s open science

Nine out of ten publications by SLU researchers are openly accessible.

In the database you can explore how SLU's research and environmental monitoring and assessment contribute to achieving the UN sustainable development goals.

Open data from SLU’s research and environmental monitoring and assessment can be downloaded from various sources, including:

Read more about how to find open data on the SLU University Library website:

Official statistics and data hosting in environmental monitoring

SLU produces openly accessible official statistics on forests. On behalf of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, SLU also acts as a data host for certain data collected through national and regional environmental monitoring.

Lectures organized at and by SLU are often open to the public to attend. Some examples include new professors' inaugural lectures, the popular science lecture series 'Worth Knowing,' and lectures within the Forskar-Grand Prix competition, which is organized by Vetenskap & Allmänhet at various locations in Sweden

In citizen science, researchers and volunteer participants work together to create new knowledge. SLU leads and participates in many projects, both in research and environmental monitoring and assessment, where the public can contribute, for example by reporting observations of plants, animals, and other natural phenomena.

SLU offers online courses that are open to everyone and have unlimited places. The courses are usually free of charge and require no prior knowledge. You don’t need to register in advance – you can start today.

About open science

Open science means making research results and scientific materials freely accessible for use both within and beyond the research community. The aim is to enhance the quality and impact of research and to improve the interaction between science and society.

Learn more about what open science means

Open science is a broad concept that includes free and open access to research outputs such as articles and data, a transparent research process, and the open sharing and reuse of research methods and educational materials.

On behalf of the Swedish parliament, the National Library of Sweden has developed national guidelines for open science. These cover the following areas:

  • Open access to scholarly publications
  • Open access to research data
  • Open research methods
  • Open educational resources
  • Public engagement in science
  • Infrastructures supporting open science

Read more about open science and the national guidelines on the National Library of Sweden’s website: Natio­nal guide­li­nes for promoting open science in Sweden

SLU’s goals, policy and approach to open science

SLU has a policy for scientific publishing which states, among other things, that all peer-reviewed articles by SLU researchers must be published with open access. The policy also expresses SLU’s ambition that all other types of material produced by members of the university should be openly available.

SLU also has a data management policy, which states that data generated through research and environmental monitoring and assessment should be made openly available with as few restrictions as possible. The policy further states that SLU supports the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable), which aim to improve the reusability of scientific data.

National and international collaborations

SLU participates in the Swedish National Data Service (SND), a research infrastructure funded by the Swedish Research Council. SND aims to enable the preservation of and access to research data. SLU is also part of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), an EU Commission initiative that aims to make it possible to share research data across borders and disciplines, both within Europe and globally.

SLU has also joined the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). CoARA is driven by various EU stakeholders with the goal of reforming research assessment systems to improve the quality, transparency, and impact of research.

Read more:

Examples

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