Open Science, also known as “ciência aberta”, refers to the adoption of practices and methods that promote transparency, collaboration and the sharing of processes and results, including data, publications and other elements related to scientific research. This approach allows:
- Open Access to Knowledge: Open science aims to eliminate barriers to accessing scientific knowledge. This is often achieved by making publications, data and other research-related resources freely available.
- Collaboration: Open science encourages collaboration between researchers, institutions and even different sectors of society.
- Reproducibility and Trust: Transparency in research methods and results facilitates reproducibility, a fundamental pillar of scientific validation.
- Innovation and technological advancement: Sharing data, materials and methods can stimulate innovation and technological advancement.
- Public involvement: Making information available to the public in an accessible way can help them to participate in the scientific process, better understand the results and make informed decisions.
- Resource Efficiency: Sharing resources, such as data sets, equipment and infrastructure, can increase efficiency in the use of resources.
- Combating Fraud and Misconduct: Open science contributes to the detection of scientific misconduct, such as fraud and plagiarism. Transparency in research processes makes it easier to identify inappropriate practices and promotes a more ethical culture in the scientific community.
- Rapid Adaptation to Global Challenges: Faced with global challenges such as pandemics, climate change and public health threats, open science allows for a faster and more coordinated response, involving scientists from different parts of the world in the search for solutions.
In short, open science is crucial to promoting a more transparent, collaborative and effective approach, contributing to the advancement of knowledge and responding to complex challenges.
COFAC is aligned with the Open Access Policies of the European Commission and its Open Access requirement in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, and the Policy of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). Lusófona University's Self-Archiving Policy for Scientific Production requires publications to be deposited in RECIL (Lusófona Scientific Repository).