Open Science, Open Access and Research Data Management

Science is great, open it (Open Science), September 6, 2011 | © Courtesy of Martin Clavey/Flickr.
Science is great, open it (Open Science), September 6, 2011 | © Courtesy of Martin Clavey/Flickr.

On March 2, 2018, Paul Ayris and Tiberius Ignat published an article entitled “Defining the role of libraries in the Open Science landscape: A reflection on current European practice” in Open Information Science.

A Blog Post by Pablo Markin.


In their paper, Paul Ayris and Tiberius Ignat have researched the topic of Open Science based on case studies concerning research data management at European university libraries, as part of their inquiry into Open Access models in the publishing industry. The researchers define Open Science as “the movement to make scientific research, data and dissemination accessible at all levels of an enquiring society. […] Open Science is therefore a paradigm shift in the modus operandi of research and science impacting the entire scientific process” (2).  For this reason, this paper indicates that “there is a need for education and skills development amongst researchers to equip them with the knowledge to manage their data outputs” (16).

As Ayris and Ignat note, “Open Science is an emerging field and represents a real challenge in how universities and research performing organisations can interact with it” (19). In this respect, these authors also indicate that the adoption of Open Science principles also faces organizational challenges, especially in the European Union, since “[n]ew skills are crucial and […] a pan-European emphasis on training is needed to deliver the skills base to support Open Science activities such as Research Data Management” (21).

This article also stresses that “Open Science represents new ways for society to engage with science. It is revolutionary in its ambition and libraries have a core role to play in supporting its success” (21). Thus, Ayris and Ignat indicate that European Council has already been recommending to “[p]romote the creation of appropriate tools as well as standards for interoperability, metadata, citations, anonymization and accessibility” (19). However, this is also likely to demand transforming existing “researcher evaluation and reputation systems, and the definition of incentives for interaction with citizens, such as recognition in appraisal and tenure” (19).

By Pablo Markin


Featured Image Credits: Science is great, open it (Open Science), September 6, 2011 | © Courtesy of Martin Clavey/Flickr.

Cite this article as: Pablo Markin, "Open Science, Open Access and Research Data Management," in Open Access Blog, 25/05/2019, https://oab.hypotheses.org/867.

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