Open Science

Open science is a change in the culture of research – moving from systems that value and support closed structures to systems that value and support open and transparent structures. Principles of open science embrace transparency and open licensing to facilitate integrity, impact, collaboration, and equity in research.

University of Cape Town

Why Open Science?

Quality & integrity: Open access to scientific outputs allow for greater evaluation and scrutiny by the scientific community which means more accurate replication and validation of research results. Openness to data contributes to maintain science's self-correction principle.

Economic benefits: Science plays a key role in today's knowledge economies and increased access to research results, including data, can positively impact not only scientific systems but also innovation.

Global benefits: Open science promotes collaborative efforts and faster knowledge transfer for a better understanding of global challenges and wicked problems.

Public disclosure & engagement: Science, often publicly funded, should be publicly accessible to promote a greater awareness among citizens and to build public trust and support for public policies and investments in research. Open science also promotes citizen science in experiments and data collection.

Innovation: Open science can reduce delays in the re-use of scientific research including articles and data, and promote a swifter path from research to innovation to produce new products and services.

Efficiency: Greater access to scientific inputs and outputs can increase scientific productivity through reducing duplication, allowing more research from the same data and multiplying opportunities for domestic and global participation in the research process.