Open Science and the Academy: A Theoretical Discussion

The Open Science movement is gaining traction since the G8 Science Ministers made a joint statement in 2013 on open scientific research data and increasing access to the peerreviewed published results of scientific research. Major policy developments can be seen in funding agencies mandating open access to scientific results. However, the idea of Open Science represents an alternate approach to the scientific process enabled by digital technologies encompassing the entire research cycle, including how researchers are being evaluated and rewarded. Still, even though the idea of Open Science is envisioned as a systematic change in the way science is performed, the scientific communities remain largely ignorant on this issue.This paper presents a theoretical discussion on how academics might adopt the idea of Open Science by scrutinizing the background and evolution of this policy agenda and the issues arising from it, and by analyzing academias perception of and behavior toward Open Science. The misalignment of Open Science purposes and the researchers value is pointed out as the major impediment to realization of Open Science concept.