What is OpenScience?

Michael Nielsen

OpenScience is the idea that scientific knowledge of all kinds should be openly shared as early as is practical in the discovery process.

Michael Nielsen

Open Science opens up the scientific process from the initial idea to the final publication in order to make it as comprehensible as possible and usable for everyone. Science is conceived very broadly here and encompasses all disciplines, research and teaching, as well as projects and the social sphere. Participation in knowledge and knowledge creation should be made accessible to as many people as possible.

Open science is a collaborative project that involves researchers, journals, funding bodies and the public alike. Reproducibility and comparability of scientific work is a central concern, but it is also about making the ivory tower of science more transparent.

The aim is to make it as easy as possible to get involved in public debates on scientific issues and to encourage people to participate and join the discussion by means of skillful presentation. This can be achieved, for example, through interactive visualizations, the promotion of discourse through the transparent and clear documentation of results, and the use of direct and easily understandable language. The provision of infrastructure for communal use enables low-threshold participation.

The 6 principles

Open science is based on six principles for opening up the steps and results of a scientific process. The first four principles are based on the paper "The Case for an Open Science in Technology Enhanced Learning"(Kraker 2011). Open Peer Review and Open Educational Resources are two other important aspects of science. The "Open Definition" explains what "open" means in this context.

  • Open Methodology: Documenting the use of methods and the entire process behind them as far as practicable and relevant
  • Open Source: Using open source technology (software and hardware) and opening up your own technologies
  • Open Data: Making created data freely available
  • Open Access: Publish in an open manner and make it usable and accessible to all (see Budapest Initiative)
  • Open Peer Review: Transparent and comprehensible quality assurance through open peer review
  • Open Educational Resources: Using free and open materials for education and in university teaching

Published under CC BY 3.0 at http://openscienceasap.org/open-science/.