Project details - Science as a public enterprise | Royal Society

"The Royal Society is beginning a new, major policy study on the use of scientific information as it affects scientists and society....The Society has launched a call for evidence and we are seeking input from academia, business, industry, Government, interest groups and members of the public to inform this important project. Please circulate this document to other interested parties.We welcome submissions as soon as possible, and before the 5 August 2011....The immediate focus of this study will be the exchange of information among scientists and other scientifically literate audiences. This is an important part, but only a part, of the larger purpose of making science a public enterprise. The secondary focus of the study will be public engagement with scientific information, which may be mediated by journalists or interest groups and individuals. As former habits of deference decline in democratic societies, calls for greater openness and transparency are ubiquitous. Public expectations of openness grow as access to information improves. However, open access to scientific information by itself rarely elicits the knowledge or understanding that is sought. Raw data is rarely useful to others if it is made available without the metadata and other context that is needed to make it understandable. A presumption in favour of data sharing should enable efficient research. A case for open access to research data is most obvious where the research has been done at public expense, or where the research has involved experimentation on human beings who have consented to be subjected to risks for the benefit of the public (as in the case of medical research). But it is also arguably necessary where private companies undertake activities that pose risks to public health. Public interest in openness and disclosure must however be balanced against possible concerns of security, confidentiality, privacy and intellectual property protection...."