Beyond Open Access: Understanding science’s closures | Alice Bell | Science | theguardian.com

"Rather than simply demanding more open science, we should remember closure is a quite normal part of science, and instead look in detail at what's closing, when, why and to whom? ... Rather than obsessing about openness then, we could instead focus our attention on how closure is a quite normal part of science, and consider points where science is closed in detail and on their own terms, so we might decide whether we’re happy with them or not. We could also think about how closure and openness often go hand in hand; what is opened up by each closure and vice versa, so we might weigh up advantages and disadvantages in specific cases.  Here are a few of what we might call ‘devices for closure’, as a start for thinking about this. I’d be interested to see what others you might add. Several overlap, and in no way is this list meant to be exhaustive ..."