Open Data and Researcher Assessment in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH): Addressing Challenges and Building Tailored Support

The researcher assessment reform is reshaping how we define scientific excellence – moving beyond publication metrics to embrace the diversity and broad impact of scientific activities. Open science is central to this shift. However, for researchers in the social sciences and humanities (SSH), open data presents unique challenges, from ethical concerns to the lack of suitable repositories. At the University of Oulu (UO), discipline-specific support services have helped SSH researchers navigate these complexities. We foster ethically sustainable open data practices that are aligned with FAIR principles. We outline major challenges faced by SSH researchers and present the best practices adopted by UO to help researchers better showcase their datarelated merits, making our scientific community more open, inclusive, and impactful.