Bartling Sönke - Open science: the evolving guide on how the internet is changing research, collaboration and scholarly publishing

The Author(s) 2014

Snke Bartling 1, 2

Abstract

In this introductory chapter we establish a common understanding of what are and what drives current changes in research and science. The concepts of Science 2.0 and Open Science will be introduced. As such we provide a short introduction to the history of science and knowledge dissemination. We explain the origins of our scientific culture which evolved around publication methods. Interdependencies of current concepts will be elucidated and it will be stated that the transition towards Open Science is a complex cultural change. Reasons as to why the change is slow are discussed and the main obstacles are identified. Next, we explain the recent changes in scientific workflows and how these cause changes in the system as a whole. Furthermore, we provide an overview on the entire book and explain what can be found in each chapter.

But even within those limits, the openness I am advocating would be a giant cultural shift in how science is done, a second Open Science revolution extending and completing the first Open Science revolution, of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Michael Nielsen

Nicole Forsters goal as a researcher is to enhance cancer treatment. That is why she and her colleagues in the laboratory of Leif W. Ellisen at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center in Boston, Massachusetts, study tumors on individual levels and search for cancer causes. In March 2012 Forster was trying to isolate ribonucleic acid (RNA)the genetic blueprint for proteins within the cellwithin mouse cells. To prepare the cells for her experiment she mixed them with a special gel that provided them with all the nutrients to grow and proliferate, even outside the body, for a short period of time. Yet in the following step, she had to get rid of the gel to get to the information she needed: the RNA. And therein lay her problem. She had never done that specific isolation before and hence did not know how to do it. Her colleagues did not know, either. No one in my lab or even on my floor of the Cancer Center was doing such experiments , said Forster. She was stuck. Then Forster thought of turning to the community of ResearchGate. ResearchGate is a social network (Boyd & Ellison ) for scientists to exchange ideas, publications, and to discuss research. Forster had first signed up to ResearchGate in 2009. She had heard about the network at a conference in Boston and was intrigued: I thought that sharing research experience and discussing topics that you always wanted to discuss with someone would be a great opportunity. I like that it is a professional network where you can help other people and be helped. Since then she had answered multiple questions from fellow ResearchGate members and now it was her turn to ask the community for help. Within 24 h Forster had a solution. Two researchers replied to her post and suggested different methods. She tried one and it worked. You dont have to search for the best approach via Google or go through all of these publications, Forster says. A social network for scientists helped Forster to solve a problem that she had bugged colleagues about for several weeks within a single day. Forsters case is far from uncommon. Researchers all over the world use modern communication tools such as social networks, blogs, or Wikipedia to enhance their scientific expertise, meet experts, and discuss ideas with people that face similar challenges. They do not abandon classical means of scientific communication such as publications or conferences, but rather they complement them. Today we can see that these novel communication methods are becoming more and more established in the lives of researchers; we argue that they may become a significant part of the future of research. We undertook this book in order to highlight the different developments that are currently arising in the world of knowledge creation. We do not know whether all of these developments will prevail, yet we are certain that institutional knowledge creation will change drastically over the next decade. Naturally, anyone involved in research does well to inform themselves about these developments. There is no perfect way by which research will be carried out in the future. Every researcher has to decide for themselves which technologies and methods they will include in their work. This, however,as anything in researchstarts with informing oneself about what is already out there; it is our goal to provide that information with this book.