Mapping the Landscape of Open Science

To date, the most comprehensive understanding of Open Science has been put forward by UNESCO’s Recommendation on Open Science (2021 p. 7) which defines Open Science “as an inclusive construct that combines various movements and practices aiming to make multilingual scientific knowledge openly available, accessible and reusable for everyone, to increase scientific collaborations and sharing of information for the benefits of science and society, and to open the processes of scientific knowledge creation, evaluation and communication to societal actors beyond the traditional scientific community”. In short, Open Science scholarship aims to change how we conduct scientific research to stimulate collaboration, transparency, and quality in order to increase the public’s access, trust, and benefits derived from scientific research. Without exaggerating, it is fair to claim that Open Science will substantially shape the future of scientific research through the policies, infrastructure, discourses, and practices it inspires.
But despite its significance, there is scant research into Open Science as a topic of investigation. The current project will address this important knowledge deficiency. The findings generated via literature reviews and analyses of empirical data will not only expand our understanding of Open Science, but will also inform local, national, and international Open Science policies, the design of infrastructure, and the allocation of funding.