Baycrest Open Science and Open Scholarship

The BARE Open Science and Scholarship Principles set the framework for responsible, transparent and collaborative scholarship activities across the institution, including the Rotman Research Institute, the Center for Education and Knowledge Exchange in Aging, as well as those undertaken in collaborations and external partnerships. Aspirational in nature, the implementation of these Principles requires thoughtful consideration of the shared responsibilities of both scholars and the institution. These principles apply to all forms of Open Scholarship, including OS and span all academic disciplines—from the sciences to the social sciences and humanities.

The BARE OS Principles align with the UNESCO Recommendations on Open Science and the understanding that scholarly knowledge and research outputs should be “as open as possible” and “as closed as necessary” to uphold BARE’s legal, ethical, privacy, and professional frameworks, including the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, The First Nations Principles of Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP®), and the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance.

BARE affirms that safeguarding the dignity and privacy of research participants is an essential pillar of OS. This foundational commitment underpins all BARE OS Principles and their implementation. All rights held by, and duties owed to participants will be upheld through clear, comprehensive and participant-centered processes such as informed consent. All data usage agreements, including collective ownership, will be respected, with particular care taken when collecting data from Indigenous communities, vulnerable or marginalized communities.

We recognize that many OS activities are already being practiced at BARE. We acknowledge and value these efforts and we are committed to building upon them to ensure that OS practices are consistently adopted, sharing knowledge created at all stages of the research lifecycle.

As OS is constantly evolving, these Principles will be reviewed and revised regularly. Researchers, scholars and trainees are encouraged to harmonize their practices under these Principles with best practices in their discipline and to seek guidance when navigating complex issues related to data sharing, participant autonomy, and responsible stewardship.

• BARE will make scholarly knowledge and research outputs as open as practicably and ethically possible ― including the materials and resources required to reproduce or verify the research process, findings such as pre-registration plans, methods, protocols, data (including for null findings), code, software and reagents, as well as preprints, publications and educational resources. The FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) principles and other best practices in research data management will guide these efforts to maximize transparency, rigor and impact.

• Scholarly knowledge and research outputs generated through external research collaborations ― whether with commercial, philanthropic or public sector actors ― will be released on the same basis as in Principle 1. At the outset of any collaboration, partners shall be informed of and encouraged to align with BARE’s OS Principles. Where contractual agreements delay or otherwise restrict the release of outputs from a given project, these shall be shared as openly as possible while respecting contractual obligations.
• Special considerations will be given to collaborations involving Indigenous communities, patient groups and other vulnerable populations where data sovereignty, collective rights or historical injustices are relevant. In these cases, BARE will prioritize principles such as OCAP®, CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance and community-led governance and will ensure that knowledge sharing is conducted in a manner that respects the dignity, rights and preferences of all partners.

• BARE is committed to supporting and facilitating the implementation of these OS Principles by providing tools, training and other resources for OS activities including central services, software licences and digital infrastructure. Practicing OS and related contributions will be recognized and valued in academic evaluations, with incentives and support for trainees, staff and researchers in line with the San Francisco Declaration for Science Assessment (DORA).

• BARE will prioritize the open and free dissemination of scholarly knowledge and research outputs to maximize its impact on discovery, translation, innovation, education and public decision making. Researchers are encouraged to select and apply the most appropriate open licenses ― favouring those that are as open and permissive as possible ― such as Creative Commons licences for publications and data and open-source licences for software and other digital outputs. These licensing choices should balance openness with respect for ethical, legal and contractual obligations.
• Intellectual property (IP) protection will be sought only when necessary and approaches to IP negotiations will be aligned with these OS Principles to minimize restrictions on scholarly knowledge and research outputs and maximize the societal benefit of scholarly knowledge.

• BARE recognizes the right of study participants to make well-informed decisions about their participation in OS activities. Participants will be fully informed about what data are to be shared for future use, the means by which these data are to be shared, the potential risks and protections in place, the extent to which future uses of their data are known and the mechanisms in place to withdraw their data. If participants decline to take part in OS activities, they will not be disadvantaged in any way and there will be no impact on any clinical care or services they receive from Baycrest.

• BARE affirms the autonomy of its researchers, scholars and trainees, acknowledging their right to decline participating in OS activities on a project-by-project basis and to choose the OS activities they wish to engage in. Researchers, scholars and trainees will not be penalized for not choosing to participate in OS.

• BARE will offer continuous, role-specific training and educational resources on OS practices and considerations. Training activities and resources will be designed to benefit all stakeholders, including researchers, scholars, trainees, staff, clients, participants and the broader community.
• OS training will address practical skills (e.g., data management, data de-identification, FAIR compliance), ethical considerations (e.g., privacy, OCAP®) and the evolving landscape of Open Scholarship.