The replication crisis, which spans several disciplines, has caused a stir in recent years. Many fundamental effects, which have often already found their way into textbooks as supposedly proven, could not be found again in replication studies. This calls into question the reliability of many research findings. An increasingly critical attitude towards the usual publication methods, which, for example, favour an inflation of false-positive findings, and the lack of internal subject control can therefore be seen in science. The Open Science movement emerged as a reaction to this replication crisis and the generally limited accessibility and transparency of research processes and results.
The term Open Science bundles strategies and procedures that aim to make consistent use of the opportunities offered by digitalisation in order to make all components of the scientific process as openly accessible and reusable as possible via the internet. Research results and methods are thus disclosed comprehensively and (ideally) freely accessible, from brainstorming to publication, so that other researchers can review them and, if necessary, use them for their own research. The aim of Open Science is to improve the quality of research (and research-based teaching) and to utilise research funding more efficiently, so that Open Science is an important part of ensuring good scientific practice. In addition, the transfer of knowledge to society, business and politics is to be improved through openness and transparency.
Open Science is based on four basic principles:
- Transparency
- Reproducibility
- Reusability
- Open communication
