The 間眅埶AV Open Science Principles have been drafted and we are looking for feedback from our community to help shape the direction of open science at 間眅埶AV.
The Open Science Principles will set the foundation for an Open Science Framework for 間眅埶AV, defining what it will mean for 間眅埶AV to be an "Open Science University." The draft principles below serve as a starting point for broader community consultations and have been developed with guidance from the Open Science Working Group in collaboration with the Open Science Principles Drafting Committee.
Your participation will help ensure that these principles truly reflect 間眅埶AVs shared values and meet the needs of our broad and diverse scholarly community.
間眅埶AV Open Science Principles Draft for Community Consultation
Preamble
Open science (OS) is a research practice that makes scholarly knowledge accessible to and benefits all. OS practices include the sharing of knowledge, research processes, methods, data, tools and outputs. Its goals are to eliminate barriers to scholarly information and collaboration. OS enables transparency, accountability and replication, and can accelerate discovery and innovation. Ultimately, OS not only maximizes the impacts of research on society, but also creates a role for society in scholarly pursuits.
This document describes a set of proposed principles for creating an Open Science Framework at 間眅埶AV. The Open Science Framework will represent 間眅埶AVs commitment to OS and what it will mean to be an Open Science University. For the purposes of this document, the definition of open science is considered within the broader framework of open scholarship and includes not only the scientific disciplines, but also the humanities and social sciences.
This proposal envisions OS as a mechanism for reducing existing inequities and leveraging scholarly knowledge for sustainable development1. However, OS practices can perpetuate inequities in scholarship in direct contrast to its purported goals2. To achieve the aims of OS, its practice should incorporate a broad range of knowledge across different forms of scholarship and different forms of knowing. Its implementation requires careful consideration of both researcher and institutional responsibilities.
間眅埶AV is already engaged in many open scholarship activities including open access, open data, open education, and open innovation initiatives. This document has been created with these existing initiatives in mind and, in particular, is aligned with the , the 間眅埶AV Research Data Management Strategy, the 間眅埶AV Open Educational Resources initiative, the , and the . The and related ethical frameworks have also been carefully considered. The strong commitment to knowledge mobilization and commmunity engagement will also contribute to the success of OS at 間眅埶AV.
間眅埶AV supports the autonomy of its researchers and recognizes their right to decline participation in research and activities under the 間眅埶AV Open Science Framework.
The application of these open science principles to external research partnerships, including collaborations with commercial, philanthropic and public sector partners, is encouraged. 間眅埶AV recognizes that the policies of its partner institutes and organizations may differ and research involving external partnerships may decline participation in the 間眅埶AV Open Science Framework.
These draft principles have been created with the intention of making scholarly information as open as possible and as closed as necessary3. As best practices for OS implementation differ across different disciplines and forms of knowledge, we recommend the development of best practices specific to different forms of research through a consultation process with relevant stakeholders, guided by these principles. Finally, open science and open scholarship are constantly evolving and these principles will need to be regularly reviewed and revised.
Principle 1: Transformation through equitable practice of open science
To ensure that all persons with an interest in research, regardless of training, origin or circumstance, have equal access and opportunities to contribute to and benefit from scholarly knowledge, 間眅埶AV is committed to practicing research using open, collaborative, equity-based processes. This includes engagement with and knowledge from non-academic actors, including those from marginalized communities, in shaping both OS practices and the research lifecycle. In particular, research with Indigenous communities is to be done in mutual partnership, where Indigenous research methods are to be prioritized and should inform how OS is practiced. OS as a practice also involves the inclusion of global scholars from less-privileged institutions and knowledge in all languages. It includes the opening up of workflows across various stages of the research lifecycle, including evaluation. Such practices have been referred to as community science or participatory research and allows 間眅埶AVs broader community to shape its research.
Principle 2: Open sharing of scholarly knowledge
Scholarly knowledge will be shared openly in accordance with the FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) principles4. This knowledge includes the sharing of all materials and resources required to reproduce or verify the research process and its outputs at all points of the research lifecycle. Materials and resources may include data, metadata, educational resources, software, hardware, models, pre-registration plans, pre-print and published manuscripts.
OS efforts spanning the full research lifecycle should be decided during the planning stages of a research project, and should be revised and improved during implementation. In support of Principle 1, opening up research workflows and evaluation processes should be considered. The use of open source tools and hardware in the public domain should be adopted where possible. In line with 間眅埶AVs Open Access policy, scholarly articles by 間眅埶AV authors should be deposited in 間眅埶AVs Summit repository. Where resources are, in their original form, not shareable, reasonable efforts should be made to share them (e.g., through anonymization). When resources cannot be made available, the reasons for the restriction should be explained.
Principle 3: Respecting participant autonomy
間眅埶AV recognizes participants rights to decline participation in research and activities under the 間眅埶AV Open Science Framework. Participants should not be penalized for declining to participate and should receive the same treatment as participants who opt in to open science activities (e.g., participating in research, receiving remuneration, continuing to receive care in clinical trials)5.
Principle 4: Respecting the dignity and privacy of research participants
Researchers have the responsibility to do no harm and must practice open science with care. Responsible practice of open science includes respecting participants rights and duties owed to them through informed consent and appropriate legal and ethical frameworks where open sharing of data could lead to potential harm or risk to the dignity and privacy of research participants. These frameworks include, but are not limited to, , (OCAP), and relevant international regulations.
Participants should be provided with enough information to make fully informed decisions about OS participation. For example, they should understand where, how and what data are shared. They should also be informed of what may happen to their data in the future, what mechanisms are in place to withdraw from OS participation in the future and what mechanisms are in place to regulate future use.
All data usage agreements and ownership rights, including all forms of collective ownership, will be respected. Proactive responsibility of care will be taken when data is collected from vulnerable/marginalized communities. Past historical injustices from how data from Indigenous communities have been shared and used will not be exacerbated and new harms will not be created. To this end, responsible open science with Indigenous communities is to be practiced and the 6 are to be prioritized.
Principle 5: Ensuring success through institutional commitment and support
間眅埶AV is committed to the success of the Open Science Framework by providing the infrastructure necessary to achieve its aims. These include financial support, materials, tools, equipment, incentives, and training for OS activities.
A sustainable financial model will be developed for central support and staffing, commonly-used software and platform licenses, and building out existing and new digital infrastructures.
間眅埶AV will provide openly licensed training and educational materials on topics such as i) OS best practices throughout the research lifecycle, ii) understanding and applying relevant frameworks such as OCAP and CARE, iii) commonly used OS tools. Training modules will be provided to OS instructors to support the promotion of OS principles in relevant courses.
Incentives for practicing OS will also be provided, including the recognition of OS resource creation as academic contributions. Support will be made available for departmental and faculty tenure and promotion guidelines to consider the recognition of OS activities. A shift towards alternative metrics and approaches to research evaluation e.g., 7 is encouraged and especially needed for recognition of OS activities that occur before the end of the research cycle. Institutional grants will be available to support OS initiatives, including those done in partnership with non-academic actors. Funding for activities related to establishing relationships with Indigenous communities and the co-creation of OS practices informed by Indigenous research methods will be made available. Funding will also be made available for 間眅埶AV researchers, staff and trainees to attend external training and certification programs.
Principle 6: Prioritizing translation with harmonized approaches to intellectual property
間眅埶AV will implement these OS principles through the flexible of use of intellectual property (IP) tools, seeking IP protection only when necessary and harmonizing approaches to IP negotiations with open science principles to disseminate knowledge ethically.
間眅埶AV has an inventor-owned IP policy. Any 間眅埶AV member who creates IP under the auspices of 間眅埶AV owns the IP subject to a narrow set of exemptions. While acknowledging that 間眅埶AVs inventors maintain control over their IP, 間眅埶AV encourages the owners of IP not to pursue restrictive IP rights such as patents if they do not intend to commercialize the IP, in order to maximize the use of the scholarly knowledge for the common good. If researchers patent their inventions, 間眅埶AV recommends that they refrain from enforcing patent rights against other researchers to allow for freedom to practice inventions in academic, and research and development settings.
The sustainability of the research enterprise partially depends on IP commercialization and industry-sponsored research projects, including the transfer of IP from 間眅埶AV and/or researchers to industry partners. Transfer of IP is not discouraged but should not lead to the monopolization of knowledge by industry stakeholders.
When entering into sponsored research agreements, 間眅埶AV and its researchers should endeavour to retain the right to use the generated scholarly knowledge for future purposes. 間眅埶AV will promote the concept of open science to industry sponsors in the course of its IP negotiations to minimize the restrictive use of research knowledge and enable downstream research.
The use of Creative Commons licenses for publications of data and other open licenses such as open-source licenses for software and hardware is strongly encouraged. Imposing terms and conditions on the results may be perceived as barriers to knowledge dissemination. However, such tools protect the creator, ensure that credit is given to the original author, and perpetuate the openness of science. In addition, licensing terms can be used to promote the ethical use of research outputs. Researchers should be cognizant of potential misuse of their research results and prohibit those uses in the licensing terms to the extent possible.
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References
- UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science | UNESCO. (2021). Retrieved December 14, 2023, from
- Cole, N. L., Reichmann, S., & Ross-Hellauer, T. (2022). Global Thinking. ON-MERRIT recommendations for maximising equity in open and responsible research.
- European Commission Directorate-General for Research & Innovation. (2016). H2020 Programme Guidelines on FAIR Data Management in Horizon 2020, Version 3.0.
- Wilkinson, M. D., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, Ij. J., Appleton, G., Axton, M., Baak, A., Blomberg, N., Boiten, J. W., da Silva Santos, L. B., Bourne, P. E., Bouwman, J., Brookes, A. J., Clark, T., Crosas, M., Dillo, I., Dumon, O., Edmunds, S., Evelo, C. T., Finkers, R., Mons, B. (2016). Comment: The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific Data, 3(1), 19.
- Government of Canada, Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics. (2016, February 5). TCPS2 Interpretations: Consent.
- Carroll, S. R., Garba, I., Figueroa-Rodr穩guez, O. L., Holbrook, J., Lovett, R., Materechera, S., Parsons, M., Raseroka, K., Rodriguez-Lonebear, D., Rowe, R., Sara, R., Walker, J. D., Anderson, J., & Hudson, M. (2020). The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance. Data Science Journal, 19, 43.
- San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment. (2012). Retrieved January 16, 2024, from