Open Science represents research that is collaborative, transparent, and accessible. This includes providing open access to all scientific outputs, such as publications, data, methods, software, and more. Open Science practices are intended to improve transparency, reproducibility, and dissemination of new knowledge. By enabling greater usability of data and methods, it has the potential to improve the productivity of the research community.
Despite best intentions by the scientific community, several barriers often prevent making data, software, and publications fully open and accessible to all. For example, sharing of data may be constrained by confidentiality issues or protective data policies by private and public organisations. Furthermore, storing and sharing large datasets comes with technical challenges and costs that may be difficult to face for individuals and organisations. Similarly, sharing methods and software in a format accessible to others may require additional effort, for instance the application of software engineering best practices, that researchers may be reluctant to undertake due to lack of adequate reward, incentives, or recognition. The drive towards Open Science may also be met with reticence or resistance by individuals or organisations that are currently well-served by the status quo.
In this Great Debate we invite our panel members and the audience from all geosciences to reflect on the following questions:
* How can universities, funding bodies, and publishers promote Open Science?
* What more can structural initiatives such as Plan S or DORA do to support Open Science?
* What are some successful examples and barriers yet to be overcome?
* How can researchers and administration help remove those barriers?
* Are individual researchers primarily responsible for advancing Open Science, or should institutions, publishers and funding agencies take main responsibility?
* How can we align the goals of individual researchers (i.e. careers/publishing) and the scientific community (i.e. gaining knowledge but also avoiding duplication of efforts)?
* What are the priorities to bring Open Science into practice (e.g. open access to articles, data, code, workflows)?
* How does commitment to Open Science impact science-industry collaborations and translation of science into practice?
* What are pitfalls in Open Science? Are there disadvantages?
More information about our panel members and ways to engage before and after the General Assembly can be found here:
https://great-debate-open-science.github.io/EGU2022/
