My summary of ‘Open Science’ course

Open Science is a perfect example of how high we would build a tower if we all put blocks on top of each other, rather than building our own towers individually. The International Space station is a living and breathing example of what Open Science stands for. Sharing scientific knowledge to an extent and the resulting simultaneous progress has proven to be an effective tool towards a better future.
Open Science is an effort made by the research community to achieve a more focused, inclusive, and open to interpretation research. I got to know six building blocks of open science incorporating Open Access, Open Data, Open Reproducible Research, Open Science Evaluation, Open Science Policies, and Open Science Tools. The free flow of data, experimental guidance, and science tools has benefited the global community through free research publications. Open access motivates the new generation and helps imagine new possibilities. And open data has a proven potential of helping scientists further the research in times of pandemics and natural disasters. The Open Science Evaluation confirmed any finding and strengthened the core of such publications. The course also highlights that each of these blocks ensure the cooperation of the science community. The new Open Research Europe (ORE) is the high-quality, reliable and efficient publishing venue for any EU-funded research which would contribute to not just transparency and cost effectiveness, but also explore sustainable open access publishing business models.
Introduction to Open Access Tools such as OpenAIRE during the period of the course has led to wide accessibility of decentralized and interoperable metrics. With certain and obvious hurdles to Open Access might prove onerous and might lead to horribly labor-intensive research. To make OA come true with full effect, a certain group of scientists have formed a coalition named PLAN S, later named as COALITION S. The infrastructure set forth by COALITION S has been designed to help libraries and library consortia to complete the transition to Open Access. In this, any involving subscription journal is committed to transitioning to a fully Open Access Journal. As discussed during the course, the cons of such a system would be, certain undermining of humanities and social sciences, loss of publication freedom, and the ever increasing difference between opinion and evidence. On the other hand, the Pro’s set out by this system would increase excellence and creativity. It would also motivate international and interdisciplinary collaboration, and foster research in low-resourced environments.
During the session with Joy Davidson on the planning for FAIR data, discussions around the Data Management Plan explained the necessity of FAIR data. Open Data paves the path for non-restrictive access to all data, which may vary in reliability or reusability. Whereas, FAIR data relies on ten principal guidelines underlying under criterion such as FIndable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Concepts of both FAIR and Open data are not the same. The greatest potential reuse comes when data is both FAIR and Open. FAIR data requires a Data Management Plan. Under the Horizon Europe initiative, all projects that generate research data will have to establish and regularly update a Data Management Plan. Any DMP, in line with Fair should follow the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”, and should be united under European Open Science Cloud. EOSC, under Horizon 2020, was aimed to unify existing research data infrastructures in Europe and create links between Fair data and related services of science, making research data interoperable and machine actionable following the FAIR guidance principles. The EOSC under Horizon Europe, after succeeding Horizon 2020, is set to provide a single voice for advocacy by representing the broader European research community.
Generating a Data Management Plan (DMP) is a necessary task for all projects, as it is Horizon Europe’s mandatory requirement for all open funded research. DMP is the guiding infrastructure on how any data will be created or managed subsequently. It also provides instructions on what standards and methodologies are used. DMP should also state the plan of data sharing and strategy for long term preservation. Another crucial part of DMP is the superscription of ethics and intellectual properties. DMP is a useful tool in preventing data loss as well as producing FAIR data to get more impact. Proper mention of intellectual properties in DMP supports and motivates communal integration by crediting fairly among participants.
Such fair crediting and motivated individual licensing drives participation wider than just the mainstream scientific community. Citizen Science is scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists. In a broader sense, CS gathers not just active contribution to science, but also tools and resources through common people. For CS’s such wider contribution it is considered a pillar of the European Commission’s Open Science Policy Platform (OSPP).
While such outspread involvement and contribution set the seal on constant advancement of scientific knowledge, Open Science Policies make sure that Organizational mandates and subject policies are followed. Such mandates and policies are in place to corroborate safe transfer and usage of advanced findings. To regulate such policies there are systems in place, such as EU Export Control in European Union and Export Administration Regulation(EAR) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) in the United States. Such Administrations administer how the information is regulated or shared within or outside of the concerned areas. This is another useful tool to Open Science as it cumulatively decides to control any information harmful to society.
In conclusion, I think open Science is humanity’s best hope in advancement and communal prosperity. The course taken has concluded that it is imperative to combine various movements and practices aiming to make scientific knowledge openly available, accessible and reusable for everyone. In this effort Open Science increases scientific collaboration and opens the process of scientific knowledge creation, evaluation and communication to societal actors beyond the traditional scientific community.

Many thanks to Eva for conducting such an intriguing course!