Open Science and Open Education: A Common Public Goods and A Social Contract?

• In Event: Dialogue and Cooperation in Educational Transformation for a Sustainable Future

Proposal

Transparency, openness, and reproducibility are readily recognized as vital features of science. However, government policies that threaten the international mobility of biomedical students, researchers and physicians stand to imperil scientific progress and innovation at a time when supporting them is paramount. This is especially true in the context of the global pandemic of COVID-19. Supporting the international mobility of scientists and the global exchange of expertise, knowledge and ideas will pave the way not only to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to fortifying our countries and society against future, unpredictable crises.

Science speaks an international language and thrives on openness. Silence stifles progress. Open science is increasingly concerned and appealed by the community of scholars and science. Science is usually regarded as a global public good which is a vision the International Science Council (ISC) is committed to. The concept of shared and public goods has been a concern of moral and political philosophers since ancient times and in many cultures. Knowledge has been amongst the most powerful of public goods. Science is a special form of knowledge and a formalised approach to knowledge. Two fundamental attributes that form its bedrock, and which are ultimately the source of its value as a global public good. Firstly, knowledge claims and the evidence on which they may be based are made openly available to be tested against reality and logic through the scrutiny of peers. Secondly, the results of scientific inquiry are communicated promptly into the public sphere and circulated efficiently to maximise their availability to all who may wish or need to access them.

The idea of a common good is gaining ground especially among the younger generation of researchers, the commodification of scientific knowledge continues. Especially, the two major impediments to the formal communication of science as a global public good. One is the business models of many commercial publishers. The prices charged for many conventional journals far exceed the necessary costs of production. These prices create barriers to access, either for readers, or authors, or both. The other is the requirement by many journals that authors surrender copyright to their work as a condition of publication, which impedes access to the record of science by modern knowledge-discovery techniques.

The social contract is shifting to one in which science is open to society: transparent and participative. The open science movement is the contemporary manifestation of this progressive evolution. It seeks to make scientific research and its dissemination accessible to all levels of an inquiring society as part of the co-creation of knowledge for the global public good. The unanimous adoption by UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science in 2021 could be a major step in the direction of such a new normal. Such an intergovernmental agreement could be a powerful lever for change, but the deep engagement of the international scientific community and its representative bodies is vital if the governance of a new era of science is to be well adapted to the service of the global public good.

Author

• Yue Kan, Zhejiang University