Open Science in practice: barriers and recommendations – A contribution by Professor Mary Ritter, Professor Emeritus at Imperial College London

Science must be open if we are to have impact on the ‘wicked’ problems that face the world today – such as climate change, energy, food and scarce resources.

This means open access to the results of research so that they can be translated into action and impact as quickly as possible, as EUA highlighted in its recent recommendations towards Open Access.

The Research, Innovation, and Science Policy Experts (RISE) Group, set up to advise the Commissioner for Research, has recently published its findings and recommendations on Open Innovation, Open Science and Open to the World. Within this, the Open Science Group has identified key barriers to Open Science and made recommendations to address these. To interrogate their findings and recommendations, the group organised two workshops to which external specialists from a range of organisations including universities, publishers, funders and relevant network bodies, were invited. The outcome of this process has been brought together in the Mallorca Declaration (the location of the first workshop) .

Four key barriers to the practice of Open Science were identified.

Firstly, extreme competition for limited resources is a disincentive for the practice of open science…

Secondly, monopolisation and commercialisation of publishing are not compatible with Open Science – too many papers are hidden behind pay-walls for too long after publication, slowing down the time to impact…

Thirdly, the practice of Open Data is an essential component of Open Science, …

The final focus is on research integrity, such that research findings are reliable, reproducible and trustworthy…

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