The path towards open science

The following four part podcast series has been produced as part of a partnership with CHOICE and Springer Nature to look at what being open means, and the ways in which the publisher is driving forwards open science.

At Springer Nature we are proud of our long experience in open access (OA) publishing and our ongoing commitment to driving forwards open science.  This OA Week we have been reflecting on what this commitment looks like in practical terms, and under this year’s theme - structural equality - how we continue to ensure and drive forward sustainable routes for all. 

To close out OA week, we would therefore like to share a four part series with Caroline Nevison, Director of Commercial Transition OA, and Dr. Ritu Dhand, Vice President Editorial Nature Journals  as part of Choice’s Authority File Podcast series, which sheds more light on what this commitment looks like in action:

1. The Path Toward Open Science: Background and Defining "Open" - Choice 360
2. The Path Toward Open Science: Let's Talk Transformative Agreements - Choice 360
3. The Path Toward Open Science: The Value of Partnerships - Choice 360
4. The Path Toward Open Science: The Future of the Open Research Landscape - Choice 360

We understand that this transition is not a one size fits all approach, as Caroline and Ritu discuss above, and this is why, as we have shared throughout this OA week, we continue to work collaboratively and closely with our partners and wider community to acknowledge and address these challenges, to collectively redouble our efforts and make sure that we maximise the use and power of OA for the benefit of all.

OA is a vital element in being able to deliver on the vision of an open research future where every element of the research process is instantly available, discoverable, usable, re-usable and widely shareable – from protocols through to data, from code to metrics, and of course to research results.  

We have a firm commitment and duty to our authors, to our communities and to all of society to communicate new understanding and findings as widely and as quickly as possible. As the last near two years has explicitly shown, OA and open science is key to advancing scientific discovery and scientific progress. Not only does this help achieve a more accelerated and more efficient research system, speed up the advancement of academic research, facilitate increased collaboration and interdisciplinary research, but the benefits that this then delivers to the wider community can influence everything from vaccine development to delivering SDG solutions for the whole world.

You can find our other OA Week blog posts here:

• OA and its role for the development of the SDGs
• OA and the transition of highly selective titles 
• Why Gold OA matters
• OA and the wider funding landscape