A Plan to Develop Open Science into a Thriving Garden

"It is now time to consider how much faster and farther the open science movement could go with more coordination. What efficiencies might be realized if disparate efforts could better harmonize across geographies, disciplines, and sectors? How would an intentional, systems-level approach to aligning incentives, infrastructure, training, and other key components of a rationally functioning research ecosystem advance the wider goals of the movement? Streamlining research processes, reducing duplication of efforts, and accelerating scientific discoveries could ensure that the fruits of open science processes and products are more accessible and equitably distributed....

For open science to live up to its lofty aspirations, proponents should be deliberate in designing and executing the transition away from research and science policy siloes, data opacity, and publication paywalls. The movement will need to harness the collective wisdom of various communities, organizations, disciplines, career arcs, and perspectives to share lessons and promising ideas alike. And its proponents must embrace both public scrutiny and scientific rigor in assessing whether various efforts are having their intended effect.

Failure to clear these hurdles will almost certainly lead to one of two suboptimal outcomes. The first is reverting to a closed science system that erects barriers for students, practitioners, policymakers, industry, the general public, and—increasingly—researchers outside of the best-resourced institutions. The second is a sort of “Tower of Babel” scenario in which some materials are free to read, adhere to FAIR principles (i.e., findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable), have well-curated metadata, and provide clear licensing terms—and many materials do not...."