Open Science

Open Science (or Open Scholarship) is a set of principles and practices that aim to make research from all fields accessible to everyone for the benefits of researchers and society as a whole. For example, scientists and engineers can use open licenses to share their publications, data, software and hardware more widely—not only with each other but also with the rest of society. The principles of Open Science promote transparent, credible, and reproducible research. Open science is about making sure not only that knowledge is accessible but also that the production of that knowledge itself is includes all disciplines, is fair to all stakeholders, and is sustainable. 

Open science has the potential of making the research process more transparent, reproducible, and democratic. 

Open science:

• Increases research collaborations and sharing of information for the benefits of scholarship and society

• Makes multilingual knowledge openly available, accessible, and reusable for everyone

• Opens the processes of knowledge creation, evaluation, and communication to societal actors beyond the traditional research community

All types. These could include, but are not limited to, any of the following:

• Open Data: Open data is data that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone - subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and share-alike. To openly access, share, and re-use data unlocks a wealth of knowledge, enables reproducibility of research results and facilitates transparency and trust in science.
• Open Educational Resources: Course materials including syllabi, class notes, textbooks, lectures, etc.
• Open Research: This could include research reports, journal articles, conference papers, etc. 
• Open Source Software: Originally open source applied to the creation of computer programs. Software code was freely available to be redistributed and modified. Today, however, "open source" designates a broader set of values. Open source projects, products, or initiatives embrace and celebrate principles of open exchange, collaborative participation, rapid prototyping, transparency, meritocracy, and community-oriented development.

This guide was created using many resources, many of them are linked throughout the guide. This guide was also built using information from UTSA Libraries and Museums guide on Open Science by Rachel Davis.