Open science is practicing science in such a way that makes research results, products, and processes freely available for reuse, redistribution, and reproduction. Open science has many benefits, including enabling faster real-world application of scientific research, more citations and research impact, greater public awareness of research, and making research more reproducible. The reproducibility crisis refers to an ongoing problem in scientific practice where replication studies are rarely completed, and when they are, many studies fail to be replicated. This, in combination with a high prevalence of questionable research practices and lack of research transparency, has eroded trust in the scientific process. Open science, which goes beyond just open access publishing, makes all the information needed to replicate research projects openly available. This not only helps address the reproducibility crisis, it also increases the reliability and trustworthiness of research and its real-world applications. This article will introduce some open science practices, and provide you with easy ways to integrate them into your own work.
Open science brings a number of different concepts and movements under a single umbrella. These include:
- Publishing research articles in open access formats
- Publishing research data openly
- Using, supporting, and developing open-source research software
- Using open and sustainable file formats
- Open licensing and intellectual property
These practices create a better scientific process and product and directly address many of the issues that affect research reproducibility. Openly publishing research articles and datasets removes paywall barriers, enabling more researchers to use and evaluate your research output. Open-source software makes the replication of research processes easier by eliminating the need for other researchers to purchase or obtain the same software. Using sustainable file formats ensures that research outputs can be used regardless of the availability of certain software to other researchers. Open licenses like Creative Commons licenses and GNU licenses give permission in advance for open access publishing and open-source software development, which would otherwise be restricted under copyright law.
Some easy ways for you to practice open science are:
- Publish a version of your research in KEEP, ASU’s institutional repository.
- Publish your research dataset(s) in the ASU Library Research Data Repository.
- Consider making your lab notebooks or other research processes openly available.
- Find and use open-source software in your research, such as those maintained by the Berkeley Institute for Data Science.
- Using open file formats, like .csv, instead of proprietary formats like .xlsx. Check out Wikipedia’s list of open file formats.
- Use open licenses (when allowed) to share your materials. Creative Commons licenses are a great option for research articles. and educational materials. If you are creating open-source software or other products, use Choose A License to evaluate your options.
If you would like assistance with any of the above, or would like further guidance on open science practices, reach out to the Researcher Support Team!