Open science helps create a society where research results are accessible and usable by everyone—not just scientists or research institutions. This allows ideas and knowledge to spread more freely, fostering collaboration and innovation across different fields. For citizens, open science offers opportunities to learn and explore topics of interest, actively participate in experiments and data collection, and promote personal development and lifelong learning.
According to the principles of open science, research results should be made equally accessible to everyone, everywhere, at any time. Typically, scientific information is accessed through commercial publishers’ databases, which are often paid services funded by readers, libraries, or governments. However, since taxpayers have already funded the research, they should not be charged again for access to its results.
Ideally, an open-access scientific publication or dataset is freely available for reading, downloading, copying, distributing, printing, studying, or other uses within legal agreements. This means that individuals, organizations, businesses, and policymakers can access and use research results for free, increasing the societal impact of research.
The open science movement has gained significant momentum as a result of the so-called digital revolution. The emergence of the internet and information technology has made the exchange of information across the globe easier and faster. Despite the fact that major commercial publishers restrict access to research results through paywalls, developments supporting open science and political regulations have substantially increased the openness of research outputs and their availability to all interested parties.
Open data refers to data that is freely and publicly available without restrictions on use or distribution. A good example is the Protein Data Bank, an open-access digital repository of 3D structures of proteins and nucleic acids. This database has helped researchers study protein structures, develop new medicines, and teach students about biomolecular functions. Pharmaceutical companies also use it extensively, accelerating drug discovery. For instance, during the first year of the pandemic, over 1,000 COVID-related protein structures were uploaded, aiding the global health response.
Researchers also share tools they develop, such as Zotero, an open-source reference manager created by the Corporation for Digital Scholarship. Zotero helps researchers, students, and learners organize and cite sources like books, articles, and websites, add notes, save online articles, and format papers according to citation standards.
Various analytical tools are used to measure open science, such as Altmetric, which show how research results spread around the world. Altmetric provides an alternative to the citation-based system by analyzing, among other things, shares on social media, citations, article reputation, and other indicators that give an overview of the impact and visibility of research in the digital environment. Analytical tools help researchers and other interested parties better understand how research results reach a wider audience and what kind of impact they have on society.
The idea that science should be open to society encourages citizen involvement in experiments and data collection.
Volunteers can contribute to research by gathering or organizing data that researchers use in their studies. A well-known example is Galaxy Zoo, where over 100,000 volunteers have classified millions of galaxies since 2007. This success led to the creation of Zooniverse, a platform hosting many citizen science projects.
Examples of Estonian citizen science projects can be found here.
Social media can amplify research impact and promote understanding by enabling public engagement, real-time feedback, and raising awareness. Examples include:
