Open Science Network
Science on the open web
We are a network of scientists, developers and organizations building the next generation of digital spaces for open science.
The current academic publishing system faces critical challenges, including restricted access, high costs, lack of transparency in peer review processes, and reliance on closed, proprietary, and outdated technologies.
On the one hand, akin to the large internet platforms, multinational monopolistic publishing corporations use surveillance technologies to exploit researchers’ user data. On the other hand, the huge sums these corporations are extracting from scholarly institutions for the privilege of publishing and/or accessing knowledge means that researchers experience a dearth of resources and infrastructure for collecting, archiving and making digital research data accessible.
This perpetuates a system where knowledge is inaccessible, hindering scientific progress, collaboration and dissemination.
The Open Science Network tackles these challenges by providing a decentralised, open-source digital space dedicated to scientific collaboration, knowledge dissemination, peer-review and production.
Features
The Open Science digital space is being developed using Bonfire - a modular and open source framework to build federated digital spaces. Some of the features include:
Sign in with ORCID
Automatically import publications
Collaboratively draft, review & publish papers
Create & join federated groups
Avoid data silos by leveraging semantic data
Participate in the fediverse, at your own terms
Community driven
We're committed to designing and developing open science tools through continuous iteration alongside the involved communities. We have identified four initial focal topics to focus on as pilot programs, exploring various domains of open science — production, sharing, discussion, and peer review.
Participants in each pilot will ensure the digital space meets their specific needs and priorities. Are you interested in participating in one of the pilots? Please contact us.
FAQs
A “digital space” is a place online where multiple people can interact with one another. Some digital spaces are home to only one community, while others are platforms that host multiple communities. The organisation or individuals who set up and maintain the digital space control the user experience and the governance of that space.
An “open science digital space” includes a distinct set of features and user experiences (UX) designed to promote open science practices. This means the space is intentionally set up to support the sharing of knowledge, collaboration, and transparency in scientific research and discovery, as outlined in the features section for example.
Your digital space hosts all the people who belong to your community and abide by the space's code of conduct. It offers a safe space to connect, collaborate and discuss with all of them.
By leveraging its federated nature, the digital space will also be able to discover other communities and content on the open web, known as the fediverse. By enabling federation, you will be able to follow researchers from other digital spaces, engage in discussion with them and stay informed about their discoveries, thereby accelerating the sharing and production of knowledge.
Yes. The open science digital space is open source. When the tools are ready to be used, we will also publish documentation for setting up and maintaining your digital space.
Yes, we aim to provide a co-operative premium hosting service to handle the hosting and maintenance of digital spaces.
Open science digital spaces may be open or invite-only, depending on each space’s rules and code of conduct. In the future, we will provide a directory of existing open science digital spaces, to make it easier to find and eventually join them.
We need resources to continue developing and testing the tools, which are open source and freely available to everyone. We are co-designing them with researchers and organisations to ensure that they meets their specific needs and priorities. You can support the project by joining the network or by donating to our Open Collective account.
Network
Contribute
We have a bold vision - to cultivate a new wave of online scientific discourse and contribute to fighting misinformation by offering insightful, actionable and interoperable snippets of knowledge that are accessible to both scientists and the public.
We are committed to building free and open source tools and making them available to everyone, carrying a shared vision of what science could be.
Drop us a line at team@openscience.network to get involved.