Abstract
AbstractOpen Science is an umbrella term that encompasses many recommendations for possible changes in research practices, management, and publishing with the objective to increase transparency and accessibility. This has become an important science policy issue that all disciplines should consider. Many Open Science recommendations may be valuable for the further development of research and publishing, but not all are relevant to all fields. This opinion paper considers the aspects of Open Science that are most relevant for scientometricians, discussing how they can be usefully applied.
Highlights
Whilst modern science has elements of openness at its core, such as the expectation that results are shared in some form rather than kept secret, there is currently a call for increased openness
We focus on Open Science recommendations that might be made relevant for studies from the scientometric area using data from literature databases such as Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) or Scopus (Elsevier) for empirical investigations in the science of science area (Fortunato et al, 2018)
A key element in the Open Science program is the demand for transparency
Summary
Whilst modern science has elements of openness at its core, such as the expectation that results are shared in some form rather than kept secret, there is currently a call for increased openness. Open Science is partly driven by a science-policy agenda (García‐Peñalvo Francisco, García de Figuerola, & Merlo José, 2010) The emergence of this term and the related movements is intrinsically connected to new forms of knowledge production (post-academic science and Triple Helix) in the knowledge-based economy, and the opportunities web-based technologies offer. Bourne et al (2012) call for further innovation in the forms and technologies of scholarly communication as well as the underlying business and access models Such developments may have a substantial impact on future scientometric research, for instance, if datasets and software become recognized as first-class research objects in their own right. We mainly focus on the former, occasionally touching on the latter This opinion paper identifies recommendations proposed in the Open Science context that may be relevant and meaningful for scientometric research and publishing, not necessarily in all or most circumstances. The discussion of the Open Science issues is ordered by the phases in typical research and publication processes (starting a study and publishing its outcome)
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