蘑菇直播

Sustainability transition is a major goal in my doctoral research project, and the concept invariably continues to shape my academic thought processing. I recently took a required course in , and I could not stop reflecting on the sustainability potential that this giant academic movement promises. Since the open science movement admonishes knowledge sharing, I use this medium to share my thoughts on how open science is pushing the frontiers of sustainability.

Without being too theoretical about this exposition, I offer a more practical way with examples of how the open science movement ties in with sustainability by highlighting the three main sustainability dimensions 鈥� environment, social, and economic. But before delving into the issues, one may wonder what open science research is about. Well, there isn鈥檛 a consensus on a single definition. I contend that, like many other movements, transformations, and transitions happening in the world, open science research represents science鈥檚 movement towards more collaborative and meaningful ways of doing science. The objective is to enable free access to research results and the data so that they can be examined and used by any interested party, sharing scientific infrastructure, open source software, educational resources and other products.

Common value system

Open science research is underpinned by the same values needed for sustainability transitions. The main dimensions of open science research include open access, open data, and an open research process. These dimensions are well-grounded in the values of collectivism, collaboration, equality, gratitude, recognition, and respect, among others. Notably, the values stand in sharp contrast to the neoliberal capitalist values like individualism, competition, exploitation, overconsumption, and greed that contribute to environmental degradation, social inequality, and injustices around the world. Thus, open science presents yet another way of promoting sustainability and justice in our world. The dimensions of environment, social and economic sustainability are improved if we go Open Science! I illustrate with the following examples:

Environmental sustainability

, research scientists have been challenged to lead by example amidst the increasing carbon footprint of travelling and maintaining research laboratories. Nathans & Sterling (2016) made a modest appeal to the science community to as much as possible reduce the amount of long-distance air travel. Researchers may use less transport and less energy to collect the same data by relying on existing open data through open science. This can contribute to reduced carbon footprints and consequently reduced stress on the climate.

Social sustainability

Open science ensures that inequalities in accessing scientific knowledge are significantly reduced because anyone from anywhere can freely access scientific knowledge (Boudry et al., 2019). Moreover, ownership of scientific knowledge will no longer be the preserve of leading scientists but a shared product with others like early career researchers, nonscientists, and citizens. Ownership of research by citizens significantly increases their power and control over the social change process that the research may be advancing. An example of social sustainability is evident in , especially to the benefit of less developed regions of the world that would have otherwise significantly struggled to manage the high number of infected people. Ms Azoulay (UNESCO Director General) remarked that:

鈥�closed science models are at an impasse, because they amplify inequalities between countries and researchers and because they only make scientific progress available to a minority. The health crisis has shown the incredible potential of scientific collaboration, which allowed us to sequence the virus鈥檚 genome so quickly. The solidarity shown by the scientific community is a model for the future: in the face of global challenges, we need collective intelligence today more than ever. As countries call for international scientific collaboration, as the scientific community, civil society, innovators, and the private sector mobilize in these unprecedented times, the urgency of the transition to open science has never been more clear.鈥�

Economic sustainability

Open access promotes resource efficiency. Research publications in gold open access are free for researchers and those who access the research output. Therefore, researchers, institutions, and other interested people from poor and disadvantaged parts of the world are not overburdened to spend extra monies to access research output. For example, paying to publish research articles is very expensive for researchers in Africa who receive . Also, through open science, we can cut down on financial resources needed to acquire expensive research infrastructure and needed to collect the same data. Researchers can collaborate with institutions with the required research infrastructure and rely on collected data. This improves the acceleration of scientific discovery.

Despite its excellent prospects, the implementation of open science research is challenged by several factors like the complicated legal requirements that need to be satisfied before data can be opened to the public, the cost of learning and using new systems to facilitate research collaboration, inadequate institutional support, and infrastructure for researchers, etc. This notwithstanding, the contribution of open science to sustainability goals cannot be discounted, and we must be very intentional about achieving this bigger goal.

References

Boudry, C., Alvarez-Mu帽oz, P., Arencibia-Jorge, R., Ayena, D., Brouwer, N. J., Chaudhuri, Z., Chawner, B., Epee, E., 贰谤谤补茂蝉, K., Fotouhi, A., Gharaibeh, A. M., Hassanein, D. H., Herwig-Carl, M. C., Howard, K., Kaimbo Wa Kaimbo, D., Laughrea, P.-A., Lopez, F. A., Machin-Mastromatteo, J. D., Malerbi, F. K., 鈥� Mouriaux, F. (2019). Worldwide inequality in access to full text scientific articles: The example of ophthalmology. PeerJ, 7, e7850. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7850

Mekonnen, A., Downs, C., Effiom, E. O., Razafindratsima, O., Stenseth, N. C., & Chapman, C. A. (2021). What costs half a year鈥檚 pay for African scholars? Open access.鈥�Nature,鈥�596(7871), 189-189. doi: https://doi-org.ezproxy.jyu.fi/10.1038/d41586-021-02173-7

Nathans, J., & Sterling, P. (2016). How scientists can reduce their carbon footprint. ELife, 5, e15928. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15928

听

The author of this blog post is James Kutu Obeng who is an early-stage researcher in the ASTRA project. He is employed as a researcher at the Natural Resources Institute Finland and enrolled as a doctoral student at the University of 闯测惫盲蝉办测濒盲, Finland.

奥别产蝉颈迟别:鈥�

听