Call December 2024

Special Issue of the MCAA Newsletter (ISSN 2663-9483) 

“Open Science in its many forms”

Guest-edited by Brian Cahill, Mayya Sundukova, Pradeep Eranti

Call for pitches

Open science is a concept and set of principles and practices, often referred to as pillars - open access publishing, open data and results sharing, open source software, open peer review, open educational resources, citizen science, and many more. 

Open science practices and skills are becoming the new normal in scientific research, gradually reshaping how research is conducted, shared - with greater transparency, collaboration, and accessibility - and evaluated. Funding bodies and academic institutions encourage and sometimes demand certain open science practices. Ongoing reforms in research assessment are also beginning to consider open science contributions, potentially accelerating this change.

These developments are influencing the research landscape across disciplines at different paces. In some fields, open data sharing has become standard practice. In other fields, researchers are increasingly experimenting with open notebooks, preprints, or collaborative platforms. The adoption of open science practices remains uneven, with disciplinary cultures, institutional policies, and individual researcher choices all playing a role in the rate of change. Institutions and communities have not yet figured out the best approach, and we are still learning together about it.

Open call for stories

We invite MCAA members to share their compelling stories about open science practices. We hope to gather evocative and relatable examples to show researchers, educators, innovators, funders, and policymakers how adopting open science can benefit their work and increase impact. 

Our topic suggestions below and examples (#1, #2, #3, #4) are just starting points. We welcome stories about any aspect of open science practice, including those we did not anticipate.

- Success stories: how did open science practice impact your research, collaborations, or even career? 

- Lessons: what did not go as you planned, and what did you learn? What improvements can be suggested?

- Practical tips, tools, and strategies for adopting open science in your context (e.g., open access, Github for collaborations, open software, open data, infrastructure)

- Building a community of practice, developing skills and training for open science

- Collaborative and big team science projects: examples of big, international, interdisciplinary projects

- Citizen science, community, and participatory science initiatives

- How do you perceive the impact of Open Science on your career development? Does open access to your research make communicating with, getting feedback from, and developing networks with a wide audience easier? Are Open Science practices adequately appreciated and incentivized in academic career development?

Submit your pitch (max 150 words) by October 15, 2024, using this form https://wkf.ms/4dv9iNa.  We will review the pitches on a rolling basis until October 20, 2024, and invite selected authors to submit a full article (max 750 words) by November 5, 2024. All contributions will be reviewed by the Guest editors, supported by the MCAA Editorial Board.