1. Introduction
Open science is praised as a great step toward reducing some of the inequalities existing between scientific communities all over the world and paving the avenues for science in the future [
1]. This is especially true, among other things, for the open access journal agenda that has been democratizing access to scientific results, diminishing existing hierarchies and power relations. Having the financial resources to access pay-walled journals and papers is a significant form of capital [
2] that can make a difference in generating scientific achievements, receiving access to funding and enabling someone to pursue a successful academic career. The pros and cons of open access are still being evaluated and negotiated [
3], and the distinction between true and fake open access should become clearer [
4,
5], but a major part of the scientific community agrees that open access represents a positive change.
However, the open science agenda has one more goal: to make data accessibility or data sharing praised as a vehicle that not only speeds up science and its achievements but also strengthens trust in the scientific process [
1,
6,
7].
Data sharing is praised as a beneficial practice, but Tenopir et al. have noted differences between what scientists practice and preach [
8]. In other words, there “is a willingness to share data, but it is difficult to achieve or is done only on request” [
8].
Tenopir et al. point out studies revealing how the type of data impacts the willingness to data sharing (e.g., “Whereas 90% of scientists working in atmospheric science were willing to share their data, only 58% of the questioned social sciences scientists were ready to do this” [
8]). This indicates the specific nature of data as well as the specific nature of the research process.
Pampel and Dallmeier-Tiessen emphasize some reasons for this “unwillingness”. Enhanced documentation of data is a time-consuming task competing with many other activities and/or priorities and many disciplines lack standards by which data can be described, and researchers do not have proper incentives to publish data, despite several already-developed ideas. The ideas about so-called data papers or enriched publications (research data published as an enrichment of an article) are good, but one has to keep in mind that in a competitive academic environment, scientists are still ranked and promoted upon the publishing of scientific papers, monographs and edited volumes [
9].
Nevertheless, the scientific debate about open data has resulted in the creation of the FAIR principles (FAIR stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). The FAIR principles were introduced by the open science agenda in 2016 [
10], after a workshop held in Leiden, The Netherlands, in 2014. They were formulated with the aim of enabling digital resources in order to become more FAIR for machines as well as for humans [
10]. Although they were most commonly considered unproblematic and had a positive impact on various levels (e.g., speeding up the research, enabling evaluation processes, and raising trust in science), some voices shared different experiences and pointed to the barriers [
11,
12].
The most prestigious and competitive research funding program in Europe, HORIZON, as well as other competitive funding agencies, adopted the open science agenda as an appropriate way of performing science. Soon, this made open data according to FAIR principles a desirable practice with different implementation choices, making it difficult to achieve convergence. Some researchers consider that FAIR certifications or requirements for funding could prove a strong driving force toward convergence in creating Data Management Plans (DMPs) [
13]. However, the joint DMP is unachievable and undesirable. It should be “tailored to the context in which research is conducted” [
14].
Open science and its goals are promoted in the Croatian context through various platforms and initiatives, websites, blogs and conferences [
15], with the annual PUBMET conference in Zadar being a very important event. The National Initiative for Open Science in Europe (NIOS) has published a document in Croatian language, explaining the mentioned principles (
https://training.ni4os.eu/pluginfile.php/3637/mod_resource/content/0/HR-NI4OS%20-%20FAIR.pdf (accessed on 3 February 2024)) [
16].
The Croatian Science Foundation (CSF), the most important Croatian funding institution, strives to follow the trends set by the European Commission. As of 15 March 2022, the Research Data Management Plan (RDMP) became e a mandatory part of the application documents for all projects funded by the Croatian Science Foundation [
17]. Although it puts more demands on researchers, the main goal is to improve a research methodology and science in general, as stated in the following sentence: “Sharing research data increases visibility, citation of publications and collaboration between scientists”. The online documentation contains examples, even specific ones, for social sciences and humanities, where the researcher can find the options available.
Given the fact that Social Science and Humanities (SSH) still has a quite marginal position within interdisciplinary funding (such as EU funding) [
18] and that SSH include economics, business, management and law, it is not a surprise that arts and humanities receive only 5% of EU funding (humanities being within the SSH umbrella).
This means that the perspective of cultural anthropology and ethnology in some aspects of data sharing can be considered as a kind of “minority report”. This means that their perspective can be inaudible in comparison to disciplines that do not question the accessibility aspect of the FAIR principles and simultaneously receive significantly higher funding. Therefore, a rather “weak” position of SSH and especially of humanities in the global funding market cannot be a reason not to take into consideration their disciplinary “minority reports” on data sharing.
The accessibility and reusability of data are being questioned in qualitative research, due to the sensitivity of data, GDPR and licenses [
19]. Likewise, the security aspect of the intelligence data has been identified as an important challenge to the FAIR principles in terms of accessibility requirements [
20]. Speaking about FAIR principles, one has to bear in mind that:
“FAIR is not a new standard; is not a top-down requirement; is not an all-or-nothing binary state (FAIR or not FAIR). The FAIR principles were conceived and designed as a resource for optimal choices to be made during many aspects of data and tool generation as well as (re)use and long-term stewardship” [
21].
Furthermore, Mons et al. explained what FAIR principles are intended to serve:
“FAIR refers to a set of principles, focused on ensuring that research objects are reusable, and actually will be reused, and so become as valuable as is possible. They deliberately do not specify technical requirements, but are a set of guiding principles that provide for a continuum of increasing reusability, via many different implementations. They describe characteristics and aspirations for systems and services to support the creation of valuable research outputs that could then be rigorously evaluated and extensively reused, with appropriate credit, to the benefit of both, creator and user” [
21].
Some authors have also elaborated on levels of accessibility, ranging from non-existent to fully accessible, stressing that “The letter A’ in FAIR stands for ‘Accessible under well-defined conditions” [
19] while others mentioned personal privacy, national security and competitiveness as reasons for data to be shielded as well” [
20]. Mons et al. [
22] have elaborated the varying degrees of FAIRness (
Figure 1.) in order to explain, even in visual form, how data sharing can have different degree for different kinds of data and contexts.
Researchers dealing with people are always under particular ethical scrutiny, and rightly so. Since the implementation of the GDPR into the European legislation, data sharing can also be considered a kind of violation, especially if the individuals did not agree or sign the informed consent to allow data sharing. Some of the data collected by qualitative research can be quite sensitive and confidential and should be treated with caution, especially when it comes to further possible exploitation for the advancement of science. And exploitation is quite common with indigenous data. Therefore, only three years after the FAIR principles were introduced, the CARE principles for indigenous data management were also introduced after an important scientific and public debate [
23]. There are even examples of indigenous community archives, such as the one promoted by the Mukurtu platform, that tends to “put cultural protocols around access to knowledge”, as Kim Christen described in an interview
24. The idea that “indigenous community members curate the content through their own narratives” (ibid.), as well as co-writing processes, is quite exciting as an idea for adhering to building principles in relation to access” [
24].
They refer to people and the purpose of data: “Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility and Ethics and their respective sub-principles” and specifically target the data of communities that were “Historically plagued by data inequities and data exploitation, Indigenous Peoples” [
25]. They seek to ensure that data collected from indigenous peoples lead to “tangible benefits for Indigenous collectives through inclusive development and innovation, improved governance and citizen engagement, and result in equitable outcomes” [
23].
The CARE principles refer to “data, information and knowledge in any format that impact Indigenous Peoples, nations and communities at collective and individual levels; data about their resources and their environment, data about them as Individuals and data about them as collectives” [
23]. This article argues for extending these principles to all communities’ data, from which professional benefits are collected from.
The CARE principles should not be, therefore, associated exclusively with indigenous peoples. Some studies have made this clear. For example, the study of data repositories conducted by Dunning et al. [
26] analyzed 37 data repositories. Certain data sets (described in social sciences as personal) did not comply with FAIR principles, despite the fact they could. This led the authors to the conclusion that “disciplinary norms have developed specific ways of making data accessible that do not always tally with the FAIR principles”. The authors concluded that “Compliance should not be seen as a stick, but rather a desirable goal, with the recognition that some of the guidelines are open to interpretation and to debate. Indeed, the term compliance, at least for some of the facets, is misguided. Rather facets provide targets that will help with getting a recognition and a reward for the publication of data. Given that the EU now includes FAIR guidance as a part of its H2020 program, it is important that funders and peer reviewers take heed of this, so the principles do not get misused as sanctions” [
26].
Apart from the impossibility of achieving full compliance with the FAIR principles in the repository, some researchers pointed out the “selfish scientist paradox” [
27] according to which the same group of researchers (usually individual scientists, as the survey was conducted in the life sciences research community) were happy to receive the shared data but reluctant to provide any [
27]. Their research showed that early career researchers reluctantly shared their data prior to publication (but wanted to consider data sharing in case of publishing in high-ranking journals), and that experienced researchers saw the receipt of funding (or collaboration under certain conditions) as a strong incentive to data sharing [
27].
Based on an online survey conducted among working members of the small but active Croatian community of ethnologists and cultural anthropologists, this article argues for (1) a discipline-specific RDMP that prevents the mandatory disclosure of the raw data and (2) an extension of the application of CARE principles to all population/individuals whose data are collected using qualitative methodological tools (and not to Indigenous Peoples exclusively).
The need to protect interlocutors and not harm them is the core part of disciplinary ethics. If interlocutors wish to share their stories with the rest of the world, this should be clearly stated in the informed consent form. If they express that they do not want to share their narratives, researchers are obliged to abide by this will. This should be recognized and applied by funding organizations. Not all raw data are the same, and therefore they have to be protected differently. Anthropologists and ethnologists have been applying this principle, together with the anonymization processes (if requested) for a long time. The collected data are shared (and especially un-anonymized) only if the interlocutor provides permission to do so. This means that he/she is a priori familiar with ways of data processing.
The informed consent form (together with the information about the project) is the crucial part of the documentation submitted to Ethical Boards before the research approvement and therefore this part has to be carried out very carefully. Apart from “project information”, it contains the “permissions” part that regulates the accessibility aspects of the collected data. This argues that the standard for application of FAIR principles in ethnology and anthropology must be based on interlocutors’ permissions clearly marked in the informed consent form. This means that the permissions are and can be different from case to case and that in cultural anthropology and ethnology, one cannot apply “one-size-fits-all”.
Qualitative research, especially ethnological and anthropological, in most cases implies an encounter between the interlocutor and the researcher. The encounter can sometimes be very deep and emotional, and in some cases, it can mark the beginning of a long-lasting friendship. The trope of the “field” is linked to people anthropologists meet “there” and to their relationships with “them”. Interlocutors are not just providers of data, as the shift in anthropological thinking shows [
28]. This space of confidentiality, empathy and emotion created during such encounters is perceived by each participant as a unique one. The bumpy road and unpredictable ways in which you manage to find and engage an interlocutor and gather data are also an important part of becoming an anthropologist, which is perceived as a disciplinary initiation process. Therefore, it is also difficult to simply share data as if you have never been emotionally involved in the process.
2. Methodology
In January 2024, the questionnaire was created by using Google Forms and sent to 145 e-mail addresses of working ethnologists and cultural anthropologists. The Croatian Ethnological Society consists of less than 300 members and some of them are not professionals. There are between 150 and 180 membership fee-paying members, including several students and many non-paying retired colleagues. Students and retired ethnologists and cultural anthropologists were deliberately excluded from the survey in order to assess current practice only. This means that the number of e-mail addresses to which the questionnaire was sent approximately corresponds to professionals actively working in the field. Therefore, this small sample should be perceived as a result of purposive/purposeful [
29,
30] sampling, used as a research strategy, according to Patton “when one wants to learn something and come to understand something about certain select cases without needing to generalize to all such cases” [
29]. The same principle is used in proper qualitative research. This study was quantitative, but the whole professional community in question is quite small, and therefore the study could not have aimed at larger numbers and in the end did not seek statistical significance [
30].
The questionnaire consists of 18 + 1 questions (the last question is intended for those who want to add something), and the first three are foreseen for socio-demographic data deemed important for the research, i.e., gender, age and occupation).
Then follows a first set of questions about how respondents inform the public about their research results, how they store their raw data, and the existing practice of their own data sharing and using other researchers’ data.
Aside from current practices, respondents are also asked about their opinion on who should have access to the raw data and on the practice of data sharing in general. The last question is considered more complex, so this section is followed by a single open-ended question asking respondents to explain the previous answer.
The second part of the questionnaire consists of six statements (partly adopted from Damalas et al. [
27]) in which the degree of agreement with certain statements in relation to hypothetical situations is checked according to the Likert scale.
Here are these statements:
I would agree to share the raw data before publication.
I would agree to share data if it is a requirement for funding.
I would agree to share raw data to achieve open science’ goals.
I support open science’s goals of the raw data sharing.
I would agree to share raw data if it ensures publication in high-ranking scientific journals.
I would agree to share raw data if it means I can collaborate with reputable scientists.
The final question was yes/no question targeting attitudes about raw data sharing under certain conditions. This section is followed by an open question where respondents are asked to explain their answer to the previous yes/no question.
4. Discussion
The results obtained from the questionnaire reveal that Croatian ethnologists and cultural anthropologists do not consider the topic very relevant to their particular situation. This is indicated by a low response rate of 22%. Such attitude (if this is the reason) could mean that they have not yet encountered the requests to make raw data they have collected available or that they think this could relate to them. In this sense, more research is needed, especially after a certain period of time, to see if the situation has changed. However, the first set of questions aimed at the current practice of data management (including sharing) reveal that the majority of respondents share data to a certain extent and usually during collaboration with other colleagues. The last two questions from this section aimed to obtain not only the opinions about who should have access to raw data, but to see what they think about the practice itself. This required further explanations via open-ended questions. Open-ended questions revealed that data sharing is acceptable within the team, and that the protection of the interlocutors and, especially, sensitive information has priority. However, some respondents stressed the need to acknowledge different cognitive and emotional efforts involved in qualitative research. Especially important was the argument which stressed the fact that in qualitative research it is the researcher who does the interpretation, not the scale. Therefore, “second hand” interpretation is not considered to be a “validation” of results, but more of a threat to data, because the context of the research is lost.
This kind of research is considered, by some respondents, as an authorial act, deserving special status. Some respondents stressed that in this kind of research conversation [
33] (with a purpose, despite the fact that it might look like a “regular” conversation to other people), the researcher sometimes reveals personal data about him/herself and that maybe he/she would not like to share it. However, this attitude shows certain hypocrisy within the discipline, since it is precisely diaries and personal notes of famous anthropologists (for example, Malinowski’s [
34]) that revealed the difference between the researcher’s front/back stages [
35] (front stage being the published manuscript positioning the researcher into the scientific community while diaries revealed the back stage i.e., the personal experiences of the researcher in the process of research). These diaries were extremely worthy for understanding disciplinary development and for betterunderstanding of diverse processes underlying the published materials.
In the second part of the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to mark their level of agreement with certain statements in order to see how they believe they would act in hypothetical situations.
While in the first question, the willingness to share data prior to publication is low as expected, in the second question, the unwillingness to share data as a prerequisite for funding was also quite high, as opposed to results in Damalas et al. [
27] This might be a reflection of the situation in which the respondents came from various areas, not only from academia, combined with the situation where they were not under high pressure to seek funding. Also, this might be a socially desirable answer. The following two questions related to data sharing with the aim of supporting open science goals had quite a high response rate for the “Undecided” option. This might reflect the insufficient information about the goals of open science.
In the end, publication in high-ranking journals or collaboration with reputable scientists does not seem to be a relevant incentive for data sharing, according to respondents. These attitudes might also reflect socially desirable answers.
The following question asked respondents to express their opinion about the need to share data under certain conditions. Since this was a complex topic with a yes/no answer, it was followed by an open-ended one where respondents were able to further elaborate their opinions.
The majority were for at least partial data sharing, especially in collaboration. However, here again, the emphasis was on the care for the protection of the interlocutors (and their data) and the confidentiality of the data. The code of ethics of the discipline was to be followed, and the respondents stressed the need to obtain the permissions in the informed consent allowing various degrees of data sharing.
Some of the respondents were aware of the fact that data shouldbe shared and used, instead of being neglected in the private documentation of the researcher (in the case of unpublished results). Some even stressed that it would be beneficial, and were critical of the fact that in some cases the raw data are not stewarded with care.
The results point to an important topic for qualitative researchers, especially in the long run. Researchers skilled primarily in qualitative methodology always struggle with the interpretation of the data collected, especially in the light of interlocutors describing “order imagined” vs. “order achieved” [
36,
37]. Having in mind these differences between narratives recollected and the realities lived, the ethical considerations of the raw data sharing options being presented to interlocutors were not the only ones.
The obligation or possibility to share the raw data will inevitably lead to changes in the nature of narratives told in all qualitative research. The personal narratives could become autocensored or less intimate (in some cases) and in the case of small communities, the “desirable” narrative could become the one shared with the researcher. Of course, this would not be the case with all interviewees, but the tendency could be anticipated.
The anonymization processes are often mentioned as possible solutions for such a situation [
6]. Landi et al. admit that “health data deriving from patients affected by rare diseases should be considered more sensitive (e.g., identifiable) and additional safeguards measures should be taken” [
19]. The interlocutors from small communities or particular groups could be more easily identified as well and therefore additional measures should be taken for them.
Landi et al. display an argumentation that is in line with anthropologists’ and ethnologists’ opinions and their primary concerns to protect the interlocutors. They also agree that informed consent (providing a priori information to data subjects about the way their data will be processed) should be the main guideline [
19].
“Additionally, considering the GDPR aims to strengthen the rights of individuals to be better informed about the processing of their data, which should be lawful and fair, and give them greater control over their own data; it is important to verify that existing metadata take into account the original consent and all existing and applicable data sharing, data use agreements and data protection policies. Moreover, it should be investigated that metadata have already been implemented with the information provided to the data subject in personal data processing according to Articles 13 and 14 of the GDPR, and that all the data subject’s rights have been and will be respected” [
19].
Furthermore, these authors stress the need for metadata, not data, to be shared, and this is in line with certain opinions expressed in the survey. These metadata should have clearly stated the conditions under which accessibility is possible, if at all.
Other authors, e.g., Mons et al. [
21], underline that “The A’ in FAIR stands for ‘Accessible under well-defined conditions’” and mention personal privacy, national security and competitiveness as reasons for data to be shielded.
It is important, however, to keep in mind what Briggs [
38] has pointed out, i.e., that “Once informed consent” is “obtained”, researchers ordinarily gain exclusive rights over how that discourse circulates and is interpreted, along with who receives it and who benefits from it.
“Interviews thus impose standardized social scientific knowledge production and circulation practices that further subordinate and obscure the knowledge-making practices that interviewees use in making social worlds and challenging forms of symbolic and other violence” [
38].
This power imbalance can be mitigated with the CARE approach toward raw data and metadata sharing. As mentioned above, CARE principles are developed for Indigenous People and their protection. They are developed having in mind the power imbalance of colonial encounters. However, even in cases where the interlocutor and researcher belong to the same community, the power imbalance exists and the majority of the respondents of the survey take this protective and caring standpoint when elaborating their opinions. They clearly express the need to protect the sensitive data and confidentiality obtained in the process of research.
A standard procedure in conducting an in-depth interview (the most common qualitative methodological tool used in cultural anthropology (today mostly anthropology by appointment [
39])) is providing enough information for the interlocutor in order to sign an informed consent form. Apart from describing the research, the informed consent form has to contain the data explaining the procedure of keeping and managing the data, as well as mentioning the media in which the data will be presented (articles, exhibitions, documentaries, etc.). Anonymity is always one of the possibilities the informed consent offers, and the majority of interlocutors opt for it, but not all. Occasionally, the interlocutor insists on periodically switching off the recorder by the researcher, usually when something delicate is being recollected. Also, quite often, after the interview ends, the researcher can hear the information not intended for recording. Although there are ways to anonymize the data (as explained in Celjak et al. [
6]), interlocutors from smaller communities or groups could be recognized due to the transcript parts not being removed, not to mention by voice.
While preparing the informed consent form for the Solidarity Economy in Croatia: Anthropological Perspective (SOLIDARan) project (SOLIDARan) project Informed consent form,
Appendix B), the research team tried to follow disciplinary ethics requirements. The process prior to the interview related to the informed consent form went as follows: each interlocutor takes a personal copy of the informed consent form, so they can later review the documents they have signed. However, the researchers often had to explain everything orally because most of them did not want to take the time to read it prior to interview. They made decisions about their anonymity and the modes of receiving the raw data (if at all). While preparing the documentation for the Ethical Board (to approve the research), the Ethical principle of CES, as well as other relevant sources, were followed. Also, it was clearly stated who will have access to the raw data and how the data will be used. This is the way all collaborators on the project have to treat the data obtained.
All these issues raise a question: is it really the ideal goal for all the data to be only FAIR ones? The answers received with the questionnaire revealed that sharing data among Croatian ethnologists and cultural anthropologists means primarily sharing data within the team or project members and keeping it within institutional documentation. The majority of the respondents expressed accordance with the principle “do no harm” to the community researched. They also stressed the interview topic-dependent decision about data sharing, and the need to protect sensitive and personal data. Some of them constantly stressed the fact that anonymization does not fully work in small communities. Also, the majority emphasized the fact that the interlocutors should be in charge of deciding to what extent the data provided by them, should be subject to sharing, if at all. Some ethnologists and cultural anthropologists stated that raw data obtained by the qualitative methodology and ethnography are not the kind of data one can simply reuse because they can be simplified or incorrectly interpreted without knowing the rich context of the research encounter. Some of them went even so far as they envisage the production of digital waste that in the end will not be useful. However, some researchers thought that raw data should be made available in the same way as the archival data and that if the researcher will not use the data, then it is better to share them.
Related to two questions adopted from Damalas et al. [
27] that would reveal the selfish scientist paradox, the Croatian answers were a bit different. Respondents mainly claimed that they would not share data if it grants them funding, publishing in high-ranking journals or collaborating with reputable scientists.
FAIR should not be a top-down requirement, but an increasing projectification of science (grants received and project funding have become an important means of scientists’ validation), as well as the publish-or-perish principle, create a clear IF NOT—THEN causal logic. Therefore, not only further research is needed in order to evaluate the above-mentioned claims and praxis, but continuous discussions within the broader scientific community would facilitate the incorporation of specific values and ethical principles of ethnology and cultural anthropology more clearly into open science.
5. Conclusions
The results of the study suggest that Croatian ethnologists and cultural anthropologists consider the disciplinary code of ethics and care for interlocutors as their most important obligation. They do share data, but usually only within a limited circle of collaborators, usually while working on the same project or topic. For the majority, this was the only meaningful option. This is in line with the ethical principles of disciplines and is not in conflict with the FAIR principles related to metadata sharing exclusively. This is in line with the authors mentioned above (
Figure 1) [
22] who emphasize that the degree of openness (i.e., accessibility) varies depending on the context of the discipline.
Metadata should be open, but accessibility should be applied to each particular case, regulated by the informed consent in each particular case (the interlocutors have different attitudes toward the idea of their data being revealed). Some researchers stress the need for data to undergo a moratorium time, or that only metadata should be fully accessible.
Some consider ethnology and acultural anthropology to be a special cognitive strategy where there is no meaningful way of reusing someone else’s raw data. The need to have a further discussion and to clearly define what raw data are (especially if they are considered the researcher’s own data, such as notes and opinions and personal information revealed to the interlocutor during the interview).
Results of the questionnaire carried out within the purposeful sample of working ethnologists and cultural anthropologists in Croatia showed that the majority of the respondents would follow a kind of combined FAIR/CARE approach to data sharing (although the respondents did not use these terms!), because of reasons of complying with the disciplinary Code of Ethics primarily. They stressed the need to protect the interlocutors. Different situations and topics also dictate the approach the researchers have to take toward data sharing as a desirable goal of open science.
If FAIR principles fail to be considered as guidelines, and become a standard, in ethnology and anthropology (and disciplines using the qualitative methodology) it may lead to collecting auto censored narratives from interlocutors, (and therefore can be perceived as a kind of FAIRy Tales). In the long run, it can impoverish the data available for interpretation, even for the ones who collected the data, not to mention the ones reusing it.
Funding agencies, including our national one too, may fund the research of so-called “hard” sciences more intensively, but they nevertheless fund the humanities as well, regardless of the marginality of such endeavour. They must keep in mind that not all disciplinary raw data cannot be shared in the same way.
In the case of data collected by interviewing a simple additional question in the informed consent form related to interlocutors’ willingness to open access data sharing could be a solution:
Do you want your data (anonymized/not anonymized) to be completely available in the open access (available in various online repositories)?
YES/NO
Additionally, a set of options (as elaborated in Mons et al. [
22] and Celjak et al. [
6]) can be offered to interlocutors to choose the option that does not make them feel exposed.
This is in line with opinions expressed by respondents who often mentioned the need to inform the interlocutor and to follow their wishes related to data processing. Some respondents followed the institutional procedure, while others criticized the fact that there is a praxis that shows neglect toward data-keeping.
The results of a survey point to the need for further advocacy for both FAIR and CARE principles as important and ethical building blocks of open science in Croatia. This includes not only further research but further educational activities as well, especially among the researchers who are not sufficiently aware of the open science requirements and their meaning. The requirements for each discipline concerning evaluation and proposing of the optimal model for implementing FAIR and CARE principles in their perspective RDMP have to be met. Apart from this, differences between disciplines have to be taken into account (and respected) by funding agencies when promoting open science and FAIR principles as their standard or prerequisite for funding.