Regina Schmitt edited Introduction_Open_Science_is_understood__.html  over 8 years ago

Commit id: 06170e9fe82c729c7fa92bcaed2f297336c4a378

deletions | additions      

       

Introduction 

Open Science is understood as open access to scientific information with its products, such as literature, data and software (The (1The  Royal Society, 2012). This emerging paradigm shift includes ideas about the future of science within the digital age itself and changes in a scholarly value-added process. To face uncertainty, for instance about ownership, reputation and awareness of open content-based research, considerable advantages need to be displayed within a research community.

Benefits are for instance faster communication of research findings and a higher visibility, an effective quality control and long-term availability of research outputs (Arbeitsgruppe Open Access der Schwerpunktinitiative Digitale Information der Allianz der deutschen Wissenschaftsorganisationen, 2012). The Concordat On Open Research Data of 2015 mentions "economic growth, increased resource efficiency, securing public support for research funding and increasing public trust in research" as further benefits.

Researchers are individuals who might respond more to reasons like higher citation rates (class="squire-citation ltx_cite" style="cursor: pointer;" class="ltx_cite"  contenteditable="false" data-bib-key="Kurtz_2005" data-bib-text="@article{Kurtz_2005, doi = {10.1016/j.ipm.2005.03.010}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2005.03.010}, year = 2005, month = {dec}, publisher = {Elsevier {BV}}, volume = {41}, number = {6}, pages = {1395--1402}, author = {Michael J. Kurtz and Guenther Eichhorn and Alberto Accomazzi and Carolyn Grant and Markus Demleitner and Edwin Henneken and Stephen S. Murray}, title = {The effect of use and access on citations}, journal = {Information Processing {\&} Management} }">class="au-cite-link"  href="#Kurtz_2005">Kurtz 2005; Henneken et al., 2012 class="squire-citation ltx_cite" style="cursor: pointer;" class="ltx_cite"  contenteditable="false" data-bib-key="Henneken_2006" data-bib-text="@article{Henneken_2006, doi = {10.3998/3336451.0009.202}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0009.202}, year = 2006, month = {aug}, publisher = {University of Michigan Library}, volume = {9}, number = {2}, author = {Edwin A. Henneken and Michael J. Kurtz and Guenther Eichhorn and Alberto Accomazzi and Carolyn Grant and Donna Thompson and Stephen S. Murray}, title = {Effect of E-printing on Citation Rates in Astronomy and Physics}, journal = {The Journal of Electronic Publishing} }">class="au-cite-link"  href="#Henneken_2006">Henneken 2006). On the other hand, service departments as well a leading staff might consider more collective benefits. Open Access as global conception is not an aim in itself but should improve science, enhance transparency and foster integrity.

Open Science is getting more widespread among universities and other research facilities in Germany like in institutions of Leibniz Association, Fraunhofer Society, Helmholtz Association, Max Planck Society and others that together build the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG, 2015). In particular, declarations like "Open Access policies" are passed and currently, universities are implementing "Open Data policies", for example Kiel University, Humboldt University Berlin, University of Bielefeld, and University of Göttingen. These activities can be a further step of promoting Open Science within the scientific landscape and to overcome the problem of scientists’ reservation towards sharing, which is mentioned several times as important challenge in interviews in Ten Tales of Drivers & Barriers in Data Sharing, a report by the Opportunities for Data Exchange Project (Alliance for permanent access APA, 2011).


Also publishing companies enhance the discussion about Open Science by distributing special issues e.g. on data sharing and help supporting conferences that show how "high research data is on the agenda of so many", as Ferguson, Publishing Solutions Director of Wiley, describes unmistakably. In her announcement for a Learned Publishing issue, she summarises recent considerations on scholarly communication, policy making, citation behaviour, repository building as infrastructure requirement, among other efforts related to the scientific progress (Ferguson, 2014a).

Research funding bodies encourage academic libraries "to take action with regard to the shifting needs of their faculty and students and consider how best to engage in e-science through development of library-based research data services (RDS)", as Tenopir et al. Tenopir (2014) point out in two studies (Tenopir et al., 2014). In Germany information infrastructure institutions within the national library system support these practices to strengthen not only Open Science activities but also to offer a variety of publication and data management services to extend traditional working areas.