Programme / Thematic Sessions II. a. Open Science - The Future of Science and Science for the Future

Open Science – The Future of Science and Science for the Future

The pressure on researchers and science funders has become greater and greater in terms of rethinking the strategy of science and making it more useful for society. Open science can help in building a new direction for science for the future. Openness means sharing everything: publications, research data, methodology, infrastructure, software – and sharing these with all potential partners: scientists from other fields, industry partners, and the whole community. This also means that everybody has the right to participate in science; this is the ‘human rights of science’.

Open science has many different aspects and definitions, but the main pillars include transparency, integrity, quality and usability. Thanks to openness, there is an opportunity to integrate all the different voices and aspects. Open science should not be responsive, but rather proactive, for society – scientists need to work together with policy makers and citizens. The tools of the digital era are helping to facilitate the open science movement for the public.

Open science has the chance to re-establish trust in science. The willingness to communicate and to explain the scientific results is crucial in this process. This is not only a task for scientists, but media experts as well.

Science funders also have a role to play in changing the system: to provide the infrastructure for open science. Funding systems need to be changed – not only should publishing results be required for grants, but the provision of reproducibility, transparency and openness should also be required. Publishers need to assist in this process as well, promoting openness with less of an administrative burden on scientists.

Open science platforms can help bring ideas together so that borders cannot stop science: globalness should be a key part of the system. The scientific landscape is fragmented at the moment, knowledge is isolated and oftentimes researchers are not able to integrate results. The research system needs bridges, and openness can help in solving these issues.

Openness is in the essential interest of researchers, policy makers, and the public as well – changes will never happen in closed science.

Rapporteur: Ákos Lencsés, Head of Institutional Coordination, Hungarian Electronic Information Service National Programme, Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences