Open Science, Research, and Scholarship

What is open research and scholarship?

Open research and scholarship refers to a set of policies and practices that emphasize integrity and transparency in research, and support wide dissemination and reuse of the products of research, including both published literature and supporting data.   Open research and open scholarship are umbrella phrases employed to encompass various facets of openness within the scholarly and research environment.

Why conduct open research?

Engaging in open research and scholarship offers numerous advantages, one of which involves eliminating financial and accessibility barriers to research findings. The Nelson memo highlights the case of COVID-19 research being more readily accessible, which aids in expediting the pace of discoveries and the translation of scientific knowledge. The memorandum underscores the idea that taxpayers should promptly benefit from their investments in research without any delays.

What Is Open Science?

"Open Science (OS) is the movement to make scientific research, data and their dissemination available to any member of an inquiring society, from professionals to citizens. It impinges on principles of scientific growth and public access including practices such as publishing open research and campaigning for open access, with the ultimate aim of making it easier to publish and communicate scientific knowledge. From development to dissemination of knowledge, several concepts belong under the umbrella term of ‘Open Science.’"

Open Science helps to increase rigour, accountability, and reproducibility for research. It is based on the principles of inclusion, fairness, equity, and sharing, and ultimately seeks to change the way research is done, who is involved and how it is valued.

Source: Center for Genomic Regulation CRG

OPEN ACCESS is:

• Digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions
• Made possible by the Internet and the consent of the author or copyright holder Entirely compatible with peer review, and all the major OA initiatives for scientific and scholarly literature insist on its importance (just as authors of journal articles donate their labor, so do most journal editors and referees participating in peer review)
• Not free to produce, even if it is less expensive to produce than conventionally published literature
• Not a type of license, but it is compatible with licenses like Creative Commons
• Not a business model itself, but it works with different business models depending on how the content is delivered
  • Open Access Overview by Peter Suber

• Learn more about Open Access

Data Sharing: Sharing Your Data

Many scholars will need to share their data publicly as a condition of grant funding or publication.  However, researchers are always encouraged to share their data; publicly available research data can help increase the visibility of projects and speed up the dissemination of discoveries among research communities.   

Data Management: Why manage Your Data?

Data management is the practice of keeping research data accessible and intelligible during and after a research project is complete. Through organization, description, archiving, and sharing researchers can maintain useful data during research, or even years after a project ends.

• Learn more about Data Management and Data Sharing