What is open science?

Topics on this page:

• Introduction to open science
• Terminology

This page is a great place to start if you are looking for general information about open science.

Introduction to open science

The following resources provide overviews of open science from multiple perspectives:

• What is Open Science? Introduction: This article from FOSTER includes both written descriptions about open science and diagrams illustrating how open science concepts relate to each other.
• Easing Into Open Science: A Guide for Graduate Students and Their Advisors: This article from University of California Press is primarily intended for psychology students, but has general recommendations useful for anyone getting started in open science.
• Guide for Reproducible Research: This resource from The Turing Way provides an overview of both concepts and tools involved in open science, primarily from the perspective of a researcher.
• Open Science Training Handbook: This resource includes guidelines and information for individuals interested in teaching and/or advocating for open science methods.

The Organizations page in the Resources section also includes links to groups involved in open science training, advocacy, research, and more.

Terminology

Like other areas of science, open science includes specific terminology and technical language that can be a bit daunting. The following definitions differentiate terms that are used frequently on this site:

• open science: efforts to make scientific research deliverables, including data, protocols, software, and publications, accessible to anyone
• open access: online, freely available, peer-reviewed scientific content that is licensed for reuse
• open source: software for which the source code is available with a license allowing reuse, adaptation, and further distribution

Please see the Open Science Training Handbook Glossary for a more extensive, searchable list of terms related to open science.