Efforts Towards Openness and Transparency of Data: A Focus on Open Science Platforms

Abstract

Although Open Science currently enjoys widespread support across scientific and technological communities, institutional and cultural barriers remain, as does the lack of investment in knowledge to foster Open Science. Generally, open research processes are based on information system infrastructure, such as informatics platforms where efficient web interfaces should be developed to easily record and share open data. Moreover, Open Science requires a systemic shift in current practices to bring transparency across the system, to ensure the ongoing sustainability of the associated social and physical infrastructures, and to foster greater public trust in science. Until now, the literature has focused its attention more on the final phases of the research process and, in particular, on Open Access, which is only one of the final steps of the Open Science research process. From this perspective, our research focuses on Open Science infrastructure, considering the openness and transparency attributes, with the aim of identifying a theoretical model able to assess web interfaces of Open Science platforms.