Geological Survey of Finland Achieves Highest Rating in Open Science Monitoring
The Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) has reached the highest level (level 5) in the 2026 national AVOTT monitoring of the state of open science. This represents a two-level improvement compared with 2024. One of the key reasons for this advancement was the implementation of GTK’s open science action programme during the year preceding the assessment. The programme transformed activities related to the AVOTT monitoring process from a recurring reporting exercise into a tool for developing organisational practices.
The research institutes take part in three areas in the AVOTT monitoring framework. GTK’s results rose from level three to level five in two areas: publishing, and data and infrastructures. In the culture for open scholarship area, the monitoring result remained at level four. Based on these results, GTK’s overall level of open science and research rose to level five. The combined level of all research institutes also improved from level three to level four.
The results were achieved chiefly through GTK’s open science action programme that brought together previously separate open science practices and responsibilities into a shared, structured framework. The programme identified development needs, benchmarked solutions adopted by other research organisations, and clarified responsibilities related in particular to research data management, support for data management plans (DMPs), and open-access publishing.
The programme was coordinated by GTK’s Science and Innovations team, while the practical development work was carried out through collaboration between several teams. Key outcomes included the preparation and implementation of GTK’s Guidelines of Open Science for both internal operations and external communications.
“We wanted to build a long-term foundation for responsible and impactful open science at GTK while also taking emerging research security considerations into account. The work has paid off, as we moved directly to the highest monitoring level,” says Aku Heinonen, Director of Science and Innovation at GTK.
The monitoring is conducted by the AVOTT Secretariat, which operates under the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV) and promotes open practices and principles in science and research. Open science enhances the accessibility and reusability of multilingual scientific knowledge, supports scientific collaboration and knowledge sharing for the benefit of both science and society, and seeks to make the processes of creating, evaluating and disseminating scientific knowledge more accessible to societal stakeholders beyond the traditional research community as well.
Further information
GTK’s open science page (including GTK’s Guideline of Open Science)
Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV) Open Science monitoring page
Open Science Monitoring results for 2026
TSV’s Open Science news on the 2026 monitoring results
Aku Heinonen, Director, Science and Innovation
Geological Survey of Finland (GTK)
Tel. +358 29 503 0109
aku.heinonen@gtk.fi
