Science shows the way in collaboration
If there is a place where we can catch a glimpse of the
future of collaboration between organizations, it is in the
long tradition of knowledge exchange between scientists.
The value of scientists is “measured” by their production
of knowledge and, more specifically, by their ability to
generate new knowledge that can be published because
of its unique contribution to understanding natural and
social phenomena. In principle, the value lies in sharing,
not concealing. Although in reality, the access to limited
resources seems to be interrupting science’s traditional
tendency to be transparent.
The value emerges from this combination, from the joint
work between scientific individuals and groups collaborating
to solve increasingly complex problems. A radical example
of scientific collaboration can be seen in the Atlas
Collaboration: more than 3,000 scientists in many different
specialties contributing to solve the most complex
questions about the structure of matter at the CERN in
Geneva.
The list of co-authors in their articles is more extensive
than the contents of the texts themselves. It is this
convergence of disciplines that helps science to advance.
The science of the future will be even more open, based
on transparency in experimental methods and on observation
and data collection (there should be no secrets in how
experiments are made), public access and the possibility of
reusing scientific data (open data), transparency in scientific communication (accessible publications that are not
subject to publishing groups) and the use of digital tools to
facilitate scientific communication.
See the Open Science
Project proposal
Faraday’s advice
to a younger colleague (“Work. Finish. Publish.”) perhaps
needs to be revised. Publishing an article should no longer
be sufficient.
If we want open science to prosper, we must
raise our expectations: “Work. Finish. Publish. Liberate.”
Text from my book:
The solution begins with co-
