Mead Project - Center for Open Science
Authors: Oliver Andress and Yanbin Li
We are students at the University of Virginia and members of the Mead Project led by Professor Cynthia Tong. Our aim is to explore and learn about data science opportunities in the Charlottesville area. The visit to the Center for Open Science provides us the perfect opportunity to have a peek into the world of data scientists initiating and getting involved in producing transparent and reproducible research.
Our tour began on a sunny yet chilly morning on March 29. Situated near the historical Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, the Center for Open Science was founded by professors and graduate students from the University of Virginia. We were excited to visit the office space where people are promoting the big idea of open science here. Tim Errington, who is the Senior Director of Research at the Center for Open Science, welcomed us to the center and provided an overview of its history, mission, and operations.
We were so thrilled to learn about the mission and history of the Center for Open Science. The center was founded and managed by a group of scientists aiming to increase openness, integrity, and reproducibility of research. In 2012, Open Science Framework (OSF) was published publicly. Professor Brian Nosek from the University of Virginia and his collaborators published papers titled “Scientific utopia: I. Opening scientific communication ” in Psychological Inquiry and “Scientific utopia: II. Restructuring incentives and practices to promote truth over publishability” in Perspectives on Psychological Science. In 2013, the Center for Open Science launched. In 2017, OSF reached 70K registered users. In 2023, White House initiated 2023 as the "Year of Open Science" to advance national open science policies across the federal government.
We also learned more deeply about their mission. Right now in the academic world the norm is to publish findings into academic journals that require subscriptions to use. Center for Open Science is in its 10th year of transforming its culture to value strong, transparent, and repeatable research. They're focusing on quality over speed and encouraging open data sharing.
We further learned about their model in promoting open science. Tim presented a pyramid model: (a) infrastructure (make the idea of Open Science feasible and doable), (b) reform (make it easier), (c) reward (make it rewarding through giving a badge when publishing a paper, etc.), (d) norms (enforce it as a norm through policies, etc.). It was enlightening how they actually change the “game” of how scientists design research, collect data, and share their findings.
How do they run the Center for Open Science? Tim talked about how they operate the center and raise funds. We very much enjoyed the mini lecture given by Tim and the discussion about how to get ideas funded by various sources, such as large funder organizations, government agencies, and university libraries.
Tim also talked about their collaboration with libraries of universities and colleges and publishers. They have maintained tight connections with researchers in universities and colleges and research institutes around the nation. They have initiated global efforts as well. They have collaborators overseas, such as in Australia and Japan. Their collaborators may adopt their model and adapt it to their own country. We were thrilled to learn the idea of open science is growing and flourishing in the global science community.
(Btw, we love the badge design of the center!)
In summary, we learned a lot about the idea of open science and how the Center for Open Science has developed since 2012 when Professor Brian Nosek and his collaborators first began to turn the idea of promoting open science into actual efforts in starting the center. We look forward to seeing the prospect of the continuing change of the field of science becoming more rigorous and transparent. We are also interested in continuing to learn more about opportunities we can get involved in this process.
References
Anniversary Timeline: https://www.cos.io/timeline
Nosek, B. A. (2014). Improving my lab, my science with the open science framework. APS Observer, 27. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/improving-my-lab-my-science-with-the-open-science-framework
Nosek, B. A., & Bar-Anan, Y. (2012). Scientific utopia: I. Opening scientific communication. Psychological Inquiry, 23, 217-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2012.692215.
Nosek, B. A., Spies, J. R., & Motyl, M. (2012). Scientific utopia: II. Restructuring incentives and practices to promote truth over publishability. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 615-631. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612459058.