Newsletter
In the last few years, we have heard the term Open Science more and more often, but what is it, and why is it so important? Are we really living in a new Open Science era? Maybe for some of you, it is normal, but once upon a time, the world was not open for Open Science
Bionote
Maria Lorena Falco is a PhD candidate in chemical sciences, specialized in biotechnological industrial processes. She graduated at National University of La Plata (Argentina), and she worked as a postdoc in several European Universities and research institutes. Now, she is working as a researcher at Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (France). Her research work is committed to solve environmental and societal problems such as metal and plastic pollution using microorganisms for waste valorization. She publishes not only in several scientific journals, but also in magazines of general interest, radio and TV programs. She participated in several outreach activities to bring science closer to society.
Open Science is a relatively new concept. We are asked more and more to disseminate our scientific work to all audiences, both scientific and non-scientific, and how important it is. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a scientist, but I saw this world so distant from me. It is relevant to put the scientific world in a place that everyone can reach. Only if our work is shown to society, people will understand the vital importance of scientific research.
I found myself as a PhD researcher, even while working in a scientific field, with difficulty accessing articles because of a lack of resources to pay for journal subscriptions. I remember that I had to ask around to download the articles for me. It sometimes took several weeks for those articles to arrive in my inbox, and sometimes they have never arrived. You can imagine how frustrating it is when the literature search is a relevant part of the research work. My supervisor at that time said to me: “Do not complain. In my student time I had to ask for the articles by post”.
Once I achieved my PhD degree, I worked as a postdoc in several short contracts in the manner that at the end of each contract, my university accounts were deactivated, and, again, my access to science was very restricted. The same was applied for data processing software, just at the moment when I was about to finish processing my research data and to write my articles. But why do not write the articles during your contract? Of course, ironically, 6 months or one-year contracts are enough to make all the experimental work with good results, process the results, and write all your articles, especially if you start a project from scratch.
This story is just one example to show how important and inclusive Open Science is, from the point of view of a single experience. Unfortunately, I am sure that I was not alone. How can we inspire future generations to continue our jobs if we do not share it? How can we claim that we do science for society if we keep closed in our ‘academic bubble’? Open Science is like opening the doors of our labs to the world, but it is also opening us to more equitable work conditions for scientists from all parts of the world, giving to everyone who wants to follow this fantastic adventure of scientific research one of the most valuable tools: knowledge.
It comes to me now a very concrete example of how Open Science can accelerate the progress of research, I remember in COVID times, when the only solution to limit the impact of the virus and finish the global confinement was to find a vaccine, many journals (if not all of them) got Open Access in that topic to accelerate the research that finished in a discovery of an effective vaccine in a historical record time, saving many lives not only from the virus, but also from all the collateral damages of the confined life.
Even if there is still a long way to go to arrive at a real Open Science system, where authors do not need to pay for making their scientific articles open for all, I think that we are already in a good way to achieve it. We should keep giving it the importance that it needs and look for solutions to make Open Science even more inclusive than it is now.
Maria Lorena Falco
Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour
ml.falco@univ-pau.fr
