Open Science: A New Paradigm for the Research Lifecycle

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Abstract

Open Science is a fundamentally new philosophy about the goals, methods, and business models of scientific research and scholarly communication. The motivation for research remains the same, as Open Science continues to honor scientific curiosity and societal or industrial challenges as its primary drivers. Open Science methodologies, however, continue to spotlight individual researchers for their achievements, but also promote common good. They are motivated by the following needs: increase researchers’ collaboration, accountability, and transparency; democratize researchers’ and the general public’s access to knowledge around the world; reconceive of what constitutes a publication to include data, software, and other artifacts beyond traditional papers; elevate the importance of research results’ reproducibility; and increase society’s trust to the scientific community. Open Science affects every single stage of the research lifecycle significantly. Naturally, the scientific community and the extended ecosystem around it (university administrators, research funders, journal publishers, conference organizers, ...) need ample time to move towards the new mentality. In preparation for this change, this panel exposes the key dimensions of Open Science to the database community, highlights the various choices offered in each dimension, and debates their advantages and disadvantages and the way forward.