This month’s “In-Depth” delves into the principles of Open Science and the ICM-CSIC's commitment to making science more inclusive and accessible to a wider audience.
In the current landscape of scientific research, Open Science principles, with Open Access as one of its main pillars, have gained increasing importance. What started as a campaign for open access to scientific publications has evolved into a much deeper shift: the transformation of the research system itself. This October, in alignment with the "International Open Access Week," the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) took a step forward by organising a series of activities highlighting the importance of this transition.
These activities included a talk by Dr Ismael Ràfols, “Thinking of Open Science as a Transformation of the Research System”, in which the researcher from the Centre for Science and Technology Studies in Leiden (Netherlands) and UNESCO Chair on Diversity and Inclusion in Global Science discussed Open Science as a structural change in science, in line with UNESCO’s recommendations on Open Science; an Escape Room on the various paths to publication access organised by the ICM Young Researchers; and the screening of the documentary The Paywall. The Business of Scholarship, which offers a sharp critique of the current academic publishing system. These activities were part of the ICM-CSIC's “Open Science Week” programme.
From Open Access to Open Science
The concept of Open Access has long been at the heart of a global movement aimed at ensuring that the results of scientific research are accessible to all, without economic or legal barriers. This movement emerged as a response to the obstacles imposed by traditional academic publishers, who often charge high fees for accessing scientific articles.
The ICM-CSIC has led key initiatives to overcome these barriers, with Scientia Marina, a diamond open-access journal, as a standout example. This model allows authors to publish at no cost and readers to freely access the journal’s content, eliminating economic barriers for publishing and reading articles. Scientia Marina is one of the few initiatives of its kind within the CSIC and has become a pillar for disseminating scientific studies in marine sciences, reinforcing ICM’s mission of promoting accessible, high-quality knowledge.
Open Science is a natural evolution of Open Access, but its scope is much broader. It goes beyond removing barriers to scientific publications to democratising science by making it more inclusive, equitable, and accessible at all stages of the research process. This entails sharing data, methods, tools, and software from the outset of a project, allowing other scientists to replicate, verify, and contribute to the research more effectively. Ultimately, true Open Science extends beyond bringing knowledge to the scientific community; it should also reach the public, enabling their participation in the various processes of knowledge generation.
During his talk at ICM-CSIC, Dr Ismael Ràfols, an expert in science policy and diversity in global science, explained how Open Science should be seen as a structural change within the research system. According to Ràfols, this paradigm not only transforms the way scientific results are disseminated but also challenges the traditional power structures and hierarchies that have dominated scientific research for decades. In the end, Open Science advocates for greater equity and diversity in science, ensuring that researchers worldwide, regardless of their resources, can access and contribute to scientific knowledge.
ICM’s commitment to Open Science
UNESCO advocates that Open Science is not solely about opening up research to other scientists, but also about fostering open dialogue with other knowledge systems and involving social actors in the scientific process. In this sense, ICM promotes co-creation activities and the inclusion of local stakeholders in research processes, such as fishermen's guilds, among others. Numerous projects embody this openness to society, such as Observadores del Mar, MINKA, CoastSnap, or the Patí Científic, which promote citizen science and invite the public to participate in data collection and analysis.
For its part, CSIC also provides tools to support this transition towards open science. Programs like PROA, which provides financial support for publishing articles in open access, or the DIGITAL.CSIC repository, which facilitates global access to published content, ensuring that works adhere to open science principles and providing visibility by assigning DOIs to researchers’ work. Notably, ICM ranks second in terms of scientific outputs uploaded to DIGITAL.CSIC, with a total of 17,601.
For those wishing to upload data sets, DIGITAL.CSIC also offers templates and the FAIR eva tool, which assesses the level of data openness. Regarding software and source code, CSIC assists in managing open-access and copyleft licenses to make sure that developments can be freely used without compromising researchers’ intellectual protection.
The impact of Open Science
Open Science principles have been institutionalised in recent years, and have been reinforced internationally with movements such as DORA or CoARA. Spain has had a National Strategy on Open Science since last year, and Catalonia has also adopted its own Open Science strategy, which can be consulted here.
For instance, most funding bodies now require that data and publications resulting from funded projects be openly accessible. Additionally, Open Science’s impact on researchers’ reputations is also shifting, as it enables scientists to demonstrate their leadership in promoting responsible and transparent practices, which can positively influence their visibility and collaboration opportunities.
Ultimately, through this text and the aforementioned activities organised around the International Open Access Week, the ICM reaffirms its stance in favour of Open Science and its potential to democratise scientific knowledge, foster greater equity, and improve the quality of research.