Open Science

Open Science aims at a transformation of knowledge creation and communication practices in all fields of science.

"Open knowledge increases quality and trust."
Paul Wouters, Open Science Ambassador at Leiden University .

Open Science is especially important in order to:

• Increase the quality of research results;
• Promote interdisciplinary research;
• Bring the integrity of the research process to a higher level and by doing so to prevent fraud as much as possible;
• Allow the public to play a more active role in the research agendas (e.g. the Dutch Research Agenda);
• Use research data faster and on a larger scale for research, policy, and practices and
• Stimulate social and technological innovation.

The practice of Open Science takes place in different parts of the research process, that are listed below:

FAIR data and datamanagement

Fair refers to Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable.
When you work according to the principles of Open Science, it is not only important to share your final publication, but also to use your research data responsibly and share as much as possible.

Open Access

Open Access is one of the best known aspects of Open Science. With Open Access, everyone can read scientific publications for free. With full Open Access, these publications can also be distributed for further reuse by third parties.

Recognition and Rewards

The recognition and rewarding of scientists is still most commonly based on numbers of publications or the impact of a certain journal in which a researcher has published. By realising a shift towards the rewarding of the openness of a researcher’s work, we promote the use of Open Science.

Citizen Science

Citizen science can be characterized as science in which members of the public play an active role. They can achieve this in a variety of ways, for example by helping to collect data. What is important, is that citizens contribute to the research process.

Misunderstandings about Open Science

Open Science does not by definition entail that all scientific products and publications are accessible to everyone at any time. As a result, the motto of the NPOS (National Program Open Science) is “As open as possible, as closed as necessary”. Different academic fields will have to find their own route at their own speed to develop the Open Science principles and integrate them in daily work practices.