How Open Science Helps Researchers Succeed

Today, a growing number of researchers are embracing open science. Siloed research is falling out of favor. Increasingly, scientists recognize that they can do more together.

Ideally, academic researchers share information. In academia, transparency nurtures a scholarly environment.

Transparency is a characteristic of an ideological scientific community. The reality of information sharing in the sciences, however, is much different.

The open science movement promotes transparency in real-world research. It empowers scientists to take analyses to a new level. The transparency of open science enables researchers to look at studies closer.

To learn how open science helps researchers succeed, continue reading.

Change Is Coming, and It’s a Good Thing

More often than not, access to scientific information is limited. Most academic literature resides behind paywalls.

However, most people cannot afford to subscribe to an academic journal. As a result, the familiar paywalls faced by the scientific community restrict information sharing.

Many researchers are looking for alternatives to the scientific paywall. A growing number of them are embracing the open science framework. Many open science advocates use the field of science itself is a prime example of the value of the movement.

The concept of open science started in the 1600s. This time marked the introduction of the scientific journal.

In the 1600s, researchers embraced the concept of repeatability in those journals. Publishers would then distribute the journals around the globe.

At that time, the Royal Society oversaw this process. The group supported the idea of questioning everything. It also promoted the idea that if researchers cannot repeat a result, that result is not valid.

These were the standards of the time. However, the scientific community has not conformed to these standards in recent years.

As science advances, however, the community is looking to the past for a path to the future. They are doing it by returning to the practice of open science principles. Now, researchers are advocating for a return to transparent, repeatable science.

Leaders in the scientific community want a return to full transparency in research. As things stand, while some scientific journals have struggled to keep up with this trend others have been quick to adopt and innovate their publishing process.

Like other publications, scientific journals are available in digital forms, such as PDFs. However, the digital domain can serve as an ideal platform for innovation and open science by any member of the scientific publishing community.

There’s a big debate in the scientific community, however. Some publications continue to have a closed peer-review process and offer limited access, which they believe is the best approach for assuring the quality of scientific journals.

Bringing the Scientific Community Into the Present With Open Source Science

In the past, printed publications were the most effective way to share information. Now, the internet makes it easy to share and collaborate.

Nevertheless, the scientific community hasn’t uniformly accepted the digital domain for knowledge sharing. There’s mounting proof that barriers to sharing research are ineffective.

Furthermore, the current limited access status of some in the scientific community promotes inequality. This inequality is soaring as nations struggle with economic, health, and scientific issues.

It is not surprising that leaders in the research community are desperate to spark innovation. They also want to make scientific information widely available for students, teachers, researchers, media and government leaders. Open source science collaboration can help the scientific community achieve this goal.

A Vision of a Better Tomorrow

The open science model is the most promising path toward the future. However, many decision-makers are hesitant to support open science. They want more solid evidence that it works.

Recently, researchers from around the world met at the Open Science Leadership Forum.  They gathered to discuss the issue.

Panel members included leaders from developed and developing nations. They also included government agencies and scientific agencies from around the world.

The group met to talk about what they consider the successful deployment of open science. So far, the early indicators forecast that open science will work. It will accelerate discovery and innovation.

It will maximize the return-on-investment in research.  It will also yield increasing economic and social benefits.

The open science movement has gained considerable momentum. Some governments, politicians, and philanthropists support it.

However, these advocates are pushing against the norm. Academic incentives, old business models, and the status quo are working together. They’re slowing the adoption of open source science.

The First Step in the Right Direction

The research community must come together. Only then can researchers realize the full benefits of open source science. This consensus includes authoring policies and issuing incentives that support open source practices.

Some policymakers do support the concept of open source science. However, most decision-makers are on the fence. In the absence of empirical evidence, they want proof that open source science works.

Advocates for open science are providing that empirical evidence. It is their hope that they can help wary decision-makers see the benefits of open science.

With that information the advocates hope that policymakers and funding sources will see the benefit of open science.  It will do the research community and the public good.

There was not a full consensus during the Open Science Leadership Forum. However, complete agreement was not the objective of the conference. Instead, some leaders saw success from the group reach a compromise on many important ideas.

The summit leaders realized the difficulty in proving the benefits of open science. The success of open science depends on many variables.

Therefore, was is difficult to tie the success of certain research to open science at the conference. However, summit leaders did believe that they showed information that demonstrated how open science promoted successful research.

The nature of their proof was ambitious. Still, it could help decision-makers assess and adopt open science in the future.

Making Progress: The Outcome of the Open Science Leadership Forum

In the end, many participants at the forum came to believe that open science worked. It can reduce the massive waste generated by biomedical research and development. This efficiency would lower costs and provide improved return-on-investment.

As an example, researchers often discard valuable data. Usually, this data is lost forever once a study concludes. Philanthropic researchers agree that open science can promote the reuse of data.

Also, biotechnology and pharmaceutical research leaders cite that there is a reproducibility crisis. Today, there is a lack of reliable academic data available for these researchers. Existing data requires lengthy validation. Open source science can help solve this problem.

How Open Science Helps Researchers Succeed

Open science can also help researchers with their careers. Publication in an open access journal directly correlates with more citations. More citations means more scientists are finding that publication useful in their own research.

This show that when information is freely accessible it is used more often and influences the work of other scientists. An open access journal enables more researchers to cite works.

As a result, original work receives more media coverage. When individuals share articles across mainstream publications and social media outlets, researchers get noticed.

There’s a misconception about open source journals. Some people believe they make use of a lax peer review process.

However, this is not the case. There many types of peer-review and a number of open source journals make use of a stringent peer-review process.

However, open source journals offer transparency compared to traditional scientific journals. With open source journals, readers can view the peer review process along with the work. This feature enables researchers to understand what went into publishing the paper.

Much of today’s research cannot happen without funding. Increasingly, funding agencies are mandating the open sharing of research. Researchers who practice open science now will have an advantage over their peers who do not.

Open science also promotes data reproducibility. Researchers publish data from an open science study in an independent repository.

That content is preserved and accessible to other researchers. Accordingly, open science greatly facilitates sharing.

Researchers can easily access clear documentation of the outcome of open science research. This transparency increases the likelihood of reproducibility. Furthermore, it improves the confidence that scientists have in their work.

Community Sentiments Regarding Open Science

There’s a lot of talk about open science. It focuses on the scientific communities’ hesitance to accept the practice. However, a growing number of leaders are promoting the idea of open science.

More researchers are sharing their findings. As they do, they will come to understand the benefits of open science practices. This circumstance will bring about a change in culture in the scientific community.

It’s students who will lead this change. Many advocates of open science believe that they will spearhead the movement. To support this, educators must get on board with promoting open science.

Fortunately, this is already taking place. A growing number of graduate programs are starting to incorporate open science. Resultantly, more students are learning about open science publishing.

They learn open science practices, such as complying with author rights and making citations. They also learn how to grant open access publishing rights.

Any scientific learning path is already challenging. Educators must incorporate open science practices into existing curriculums. This way, young minds will be influenced as they develop the skills and knowledge of a scientist.

There’s a growing body of evidence that open science is beneficial.  Every year, more studies assess the advantages of open science.

Also, more funding agencies announce policies that encourage or require open research. This change cannot come at a better time.

Technology is paving the way for open science. Increasingly, it’s getting easier, faster and more cost-effective to share research.

Successful research requires collaboration. However, it’s often difficult for researchers to find viable collaborators.

Open science facilitates the collaboration process. It increases the discoverability and visibility of works.

With open science, researchers have easy access to new data and applications. Today, open science technology gives researchers new opportunities to collaborate.

Knowledge Sharing for Open Science: Putting Theory to Work

ARTiFACTS is one of several tech firms leading the way in open source science. The company has recently partnered with ORCID. The group is a nonprofit organization that provides digital identifiers for researchers.

The partnership will enable millions of ORCID users to update their CVs automatically. The CVs will update as they register new research. Then, ARTiFACTS will record all transactions using blockchain.

This service will greatly benefit researchers. Every day, scientists use various platforms and services. These tools help them to share their findings.

The ARTiFACTS technology will enable those platforms to communicate. It will serve as a bridge.

ARTiFACTS will allow researchers to discover information and make use of knowledge. It will also help researchers build a reputation in their community.

Now, ARTiFACTS has fully integrated with ORCID. The union has enabled the seamless integration of records across the two platforms. Now, peers can see updates to research and CVs in real-time.

This real-time transparency increases the chances that researchers can find information. They can then cite that information and use it in their work.

ARTiFACTS leverages web 3.0 and blockchain technology. These innovations safeguard information regarding the origin of research and allow real-time attribution.

Now, researchers will always have recorded proof of their work. Furthermore, they’ll have it before their work even gets published.

Resources for Open Science

There are several resources available for open science researchers. A good place to begin is with a quick search of open science articles.

Also, the Open Science Foundation (OSF) offers a wealth of information on its website. The Center for Open Science (COS) is another great source of information on the practice.

Start Participating in the Open Science Community Today

Now that you’ve learned about how open science helps researchers succeed, get started!

A large amount of research remains inaccessible. For the most part, there is no reliable way to identify the origin of most research. Researchers need an unalterable record of their work.

ARTiFACTS can help researchers secure their findings in the open source community. By using ARTiFACTS, you can accelerate the discovery process. You’ll give your peers access to vital information.

Visit ARTiFACTS today. Learn how to use blockchain to participate in the open science movement.