The transparency paradox: managing access to research materials under freedom of information (FOI) legislation

Abstract This article examines how researchers and university archivists understand and manage requests for access to research materials as public records. While informal sharing and open science have attracted considerable scholarly attention, much less is known about legally mandated access to research materials through public records law and how such obligations affect research practice. Drawing on 36 qualitative interviews with researchers and university archivists in Sweden, the study examines experiences of FOI requests, interpretations of the legal status of research materials and the practical and ethical issues raised by possible disclosure. The findings show that FOI requests play a limited role in the everyday circulation of research materials, which is instead governed by informal collegial practices and data repositories. At the same time, research materials are stored outside central recordkeeping systems, constraining universities’ capacity to locate, assess and disclose records. Researchers and archivists also differ in how they understand the legal status and institutional responsibility for research materials. Drawing on the transparency paradox, the article distinguishes a transparency logic of future accountability from a research ethics logic of prospective participant protection. It shows that anticipated disclosure may shape documentation practices, influencing what is recorded, how it is expressed and what is left unrecorded. Transparency legislation therefore affects not only access to records, but also the conditions under which they are produced, preserved and made available for future scrutiny.