The move toward "Open Science" that is a movement toward "transparency in methodology, observation, and data collection with public availability and re-usability of scientific data to provide public accessibility to scientific communication using web-based tools to facilitate scientific collaboration" is a trend affecting the future of research services within academic libraries (Gezetter, 2009). "In 2016, there were an estimated 2.1 million subscription articles and 0.5 million open access articles published worldwide" (Elsevier.com, 2018). With this move that is influenced by national and international policy mandates, grant funders, and open science advocates, many in academia wonder what is the sustainable future of academic publishing?
Over the last ten years, national and international policymakers have made mandates to promote the growth of Open Science. The National Institute of Health began to support Open Science in 2008 with its public access policy and the White House Office of Science and Technology 2013 memo on public access has encouraged other US government agencies to develop their own data sharing and Open Access policies. Research councils in the UK, Australia, and The Netherlands have developed strategic plans to move toward full open access policies for Open Science (ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee, 2017). Most major grant funders now have “Open Science” policies as a requirement to funding support. Brian Nosek, an Open Science advocate, and the Executive Director of the Center for Open Science in Charlottesville, Virginia indicates that there is a threefold need to “encourage more researchers to share data and research methods, and to replicate research as a matter of course, to focus on developing technologies to support more open and reproducible research”, and to change the culture of incentives so that researchers will produce open and reproducible science (Cited in Winerman, 2017, p. 90). Indeed, this call to action can be summarized as Open Access, Open Data, and Open Science Tools. To support this call to action, we must have culture shifts that include copyright reform, the development of sustainable infrastructure, and the reskilling of librarians to support Open Science. For the academic librarian, a shift in librarianship may create the research environment to support researchers in developing Open Science. Academic librarians must be mindful of the functions, supports, and developments in Open Science and develop workflows that will support researchers. In addition, consultation services should be modified to include Open Science information and educational initiatives should be developed and promoted to support the use of Open Science Tools to perform research. Open Science offers an opportunity for researchers in the field of Education research in that data collection for the purposes of a study can be difficult to obtain. Open Science offers educational researchers data, shared methodologies, and the opportunity to reproduce science which has been of significant need in the field of education. Academic Publishing is undergoing a transformation in the way we access and fund science. Open Science is the sustainable future of the way we should share science for the betterment of our society. Librarians play a key role in aiding researchers in understanding the role they may play in Open Science. Open Science Graphic Organizer by Vandy Pacetti-Donelson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.eliterateandlevelingup.com.
References
ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee. (2017, March). Environmental Scan 2017. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/publications/whitepapers/EnvironmentalScan2017.pdf Elsevier. (2018). 5 surprising facts you may not know about Elsevier and open access. Retrieved from https://www.elsevier.com/about/open-science/open-access/surprising-facts Gezelter, D. (2009, July 28). What, exactly, is Open Science? The OpenScience Project. Retrieved from http://openscience.org/what-exactly-is-open-science/ PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2018). Technological breakthroughs. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.co.uk/issues/megatrends/technological-breakthroughs.html Winerman, L. (2017). Trends report: Psychologists embrace open science. 48(10), p.90.
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