Passport for Open Science – A Practical Guide for PhD Students
September 2022
Johann Berti (Aix-Marseille Université)
Marin Dacos (MESRI)
Gabriel Gallezot (Université Côte d’Azur)
Madeleine Géroudet (Université de Lille)
Sabrina Granger (Université de Bordeaux)
Joanna Janik (DDOR-CNRS)
Claire Josserand (MESRI)
Jean-François Lutz (Université de Lorraine)
Christine Okret-Manville (Université Paris Dauphine-PSL)
Sébastien Perrin (Sorbonne Université)
Noël Thiboud (Urfist de Strasbourg)
Preamble
Open science was born out of the new opportunities the digital revolution offered for sharing and disseminating scientific content. It essentially consists of making research results accessible for all by removing any technical or financial barriers which may hinder access to scientific publications. It also involves opening researchers’ ‘black boxes’ containing the data and methods used for publications to share these as much as possible.
Choosing open science first of all means affirming that research which is mainly financed by public funds must report its results back to the public in as much detail as possible. Openness is a necessary condition for the reproducibility of scientific results and the guarantee of better documented and more substantiated research. Sharing reinforces the cumulative nature of science and encourages its progress.
Open transparent science also helps enhance research’s credibility in society and the health crisis of 2020 has indeed reminded us how important this issue is. Finally, open science is the bearer of a profound movement towards democratising knowledge to benefit organisations, companies, citizens and particularly students for whom easy access to knowledge is a condition for success.
Open science policies now have support at the highest level. They are supported by the European Union, which requires open access to publications and data for research it funds, and since 2021, it defines open science as a criteria of scientific excellence. Open science policies are also supported worldwide by the G7 and UNESCO. In France, the First National Plan for Open Science, launched in 2018 by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, has been reinforced by a second plan, in 2021, which affirms its ambitions through multiple initiatives.
Ultimately, it is researchers whose commitments and practices embody and bring open science to life. As you begin to prepare your doctorate – the last stage of your education and the first stage of your professional life– use this guide to start a conversation within your research team.
The Passport For Open Science is a guide designed to accompany you in any field of study, at every step of your research, from developing your scientific approach to the dissemination of your research results. It provides a set of tools and best practices that can be directly implemented and is aimed at researchers from all disciplines.
We hope this guide will motivate you and provide the means for you to realise the ambitions of open science by sharing your research results and data with as many people as possible.
Anne-Sophie Barthez
Director General for Higher Education and Employability
Claire Giry
Director General for Research and Innovation
English translation by Richard Dickinson and Katherine Kean – Translation Unit, Inist-CNRS.
The guide is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA licence.
