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What is Open Science?
Open Science is a collection of practices that aim to increase the accessibility and transparency of research. It consists of principles that promote transparent, credible, and reproducible science. The overarching goal of Open Science is to make knowledge more accessible and respond to poor scientific practices.
The FOSTER Open Science Training Handbook defines Open Science as: "the practice of science in such a way that others can collaborate and contribute, where research data, lab notes and other research processes are freely available, under terms that enable reuse, redistribution and reproduction of the research and its underlying data and methods."
Image by D. Schindler, G. Emmerich, from Wikimedia Commons
Advantages of Practicing Open Science
Some studies have found that the best-performing universities are those that conduct science following open practices.
Researchers can benefit from adopting Open Science practices in a number of ways:
- Increase your research impact
- A key 2020 study published in PLOS One found a correlation of up to 25.36% more citations for articles that share their data in a repository.
- Recent studies show that researchers who publish open access receive greater and more diverse citations.
- Facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration: Through removing paywalls and boundaries between disciplines, open research can foster more collaborative projects and grapple with more complex research issues.
- Improve transparency: Research conducted with transparent methodologies is more verifiable by others in the field.
- Elevate research quality: Open Science components such as open data enable scientific research to withstand the scrutiny of rigorous peer evaluation and scholarship.
- Avoid research waste: Knowing that a study has been attempted previously through reviewing and implementing open protocols can reduce unintentional and costly repetition of previous studies.
Interested in learning about strategies for adopting open research? Review the "Implementing Open Science" tab on the left.
Resources for Getting Started
- OpenSciency
OpenSciency is a core open science curriculum created by and for the research community. Hosted on Github, it provides an overview of open science principles, the benefits of open research, and how to facilitate a transition to open science practices. - Ten simple rules for implementing open and reproducible research practices
Researchers who want to implement open science practices may not know where to start once they return to their research team. The authors of this paper describe ten simple rules to guide participants of relevant training courses in implementing robust research practices in their own projects, once they return to their research group. - Easing Into Open Science: A Guide for Graduate Students and Their Advisors
Focused on the field of psychology, this article provides a roadmap to assist graduate students and their advisors to engage in open science practices.