Open Letter: Open Science Should Provide Support, not Impose Sanctions

by Guido Scherp

At the end of 2021, the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics launched the Open Science Retreat, a new online format to intensively discuss current and globally relevant Open Science topics in a small circle of international Open Science advocates. The outcome is completely open. The focus is on networking and exchange.

During the third retreat in June 2022, the participants discussed the topic “Impact of Global Crises on the Open Science Movement”. The past has shown that crises – such as the Corona pandemic – can surprisingly turn out as enablers on openness. On the other hand, Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine (#ScienceForUkraine) and the suffering and destruction it has caused, painfully remind us of the limiting factor crises can have on the openness of science. But how do such events affect the Open Science movement in general, and how does the Open Science community respond? These and other questions were discussed during the retreat. It quickly became apparent to the participants that there has been little such discourse and corresponding reflection so far.

Thus, some participants of the retreat wrote the open letter “Open Science should provide support, not impose sanctions” directed to the Open Science community in general. It focuses on two core theses:

• The Open Science movement should address the question of whether and, if so, under which framework conditions “closeness” can be appropriate in global, political crises.
• Openness must not be used to place sanctions in global, political crises by closing open offers.

The Open Letter takes a closer look at these aspects.

The aim of the open letter is to further stimulate the discourse and the corresponding reflection on the mentioned aspects. Thus, the authors explicitly invite the Open Science community to support this letter.

Related links:

• Website of the open letter “Open Science should provide support, not impose sanctions”
• Website of the Open Science Retreat
• Report “First Open Science Retreat: On the Future of Research Evaluation”