Supporting practical pathways to open science
Supporting practical pathways to open science
As part of the Redefining Publishing project PLOS convened open publishing infrastructure stakeholders from 14 countries across five continents. Participants included representatives from repositories, indexing services, metadata and standards bodies, publishing platforms, institutional and regional initiatives, and open science organizations.
They explored how publishing infrastructure could better support open science and discussed the ongoing development of the PLOS “knowledge stack” concept – as a component of a distributed open science ecosystem that supports a more inclusive and equitable approach to research assessment. The convening was future focused while remaining practical: not designing an ideal system but identifying what can be done to start creating meaningful impact now with existing open tools and standards, supported through multi-stakeholder collaboration.
“This is an incredible opportunity to bring us all together, and to build on existing solutions while not reinventing the wheel.”
Exploring the current ecosystem
Over two days, participants explored what it would take to create a more connected research ecosystem, one that builds on existing open standards and infrastructures for scholarly communication – and reflects the increasingly international and collaborative research community it supports. Participants covered:
- What can be learned from existing and emerging open science infrastructure initiatives from different parts of the world, such as Open Science for 10 in China and OpenAIRE in Europe
- How distributed infrastructures (repositories, registries, institutional platforms) can be better connected so that diverse research outputs within a knowledge stack are linked and equally discoverable, and their relationships clearly defined and machine readable
- The foundational role of metadata and leveraging existing standards and protocols (persistent identifiers, CRediT, COAR Notify, data citations, OXA) in enabling connectivity
- How interoperability could work better across different regional, policy, and governance contexts using open standards and protocols without centralising control
- The value of trust signals and quality control mechanisms, particularly for non-article outputs, and the role of publishers in enabling them
- Areas where progress in parallel to infrastructure – competing incentives, uneven adoption, research assessment cultures and processes – are also needed to
- The role of PLOS in demonstrating what is possible, and convening others to enable to collective progress
Key insights
Metadata is an essential enabler of progress – and there are existing solutions and partnerships in the ecosystem that could enhance metadata and deliver greater value from it.
Improving attribution for data and code, and their connections to articles – are opportunities to add value now, without "reinventing the wheel”.
Interoperable, open publishing infrastructure is a necessary but not sufficient enabling condition – for systemic change that enables more diverse research outputs and activities to be rewarded.
Collaboration and convening over centralised ownership – participants saw an important role for PLOS as a convenor, connector, demonstrator, and steward of collaboration between diverse partners.
‘Checkability’ for data and code is a pragmatic starting point - transparently signaling that research outputs can be meaningfully examined and reused emerged as a core element of building trust.
Solutions should be local and global - the future state must prioritise global collaboration and local sovereignty, with inclusive mechanisms for participation from a wide variety of infrastructures and initiatives
“There’s a lot to be said for getting the basics really good and taking advantage of existing solutions when it comes to better metadata about affiliations, funding and awards, connections between articles and software and code. That and more is quite possible now.”
Why this matters
The nature of research has changed but scholarly communication still largely revolves around the article, a format that captures only a fraction of the work behind any piece of research, with much data and metadata that could be more open locked in closed systems. Data, code, methods, and protocols all contribute to scientific progress but remain largely invisible in the published record. To properly recognize the contributions of all, these contributions need to be better exposed and connected in scholarly infrastructure to better enable academic incentives to evolve, and remove barriers to more open science.
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“These 2 days show me how much software, data and code are important now, more than ever. It’s been a long journey to see it happen and I really want to be part of where this goes next ”
Variance in disciplinary norms can also make it challenging to develop an assessment framework that is equitable for all researchers.
Researchers and institutions feel "trapped" in existing incentive structures. This is particularly challenging for early career researchers motivated by career progression. Meanwhile, institutions see a potential “first mover disadvantage” when it comes to competitive funding and recruitment.
Time, tools, heuristics, and expertise are further practical barriers to recognizing open science in research assessment.
Moving forward in partnership
Something that made this convening distinctive was the diversity of voices, and participants noted that this kind of cross-community gathering happens far too infrequently. They encouraged PLOS to broaden our engagement with many other organizations and stakeholders.
The priority for PLOS will be to continue to work with the community to test and develop practical approaches as part of the Redefining Publishing Initiative. Ongoing feedback and iteration with the community on the ‘knowledge stack’ as well as the proposed new business model ‘beyond the APC’ will continue, as we invest in partnership‑led stewardship and joint advocacy to accelerate the push towards interconnected research output and recognition.