Open Science as the standard: ‘You don’t do science for yourself’
Open Science is changing how people work together and share research. Anna van ’t Veer won the Leo Waiijers Open Science Award for a career full of Open Science activities. A sign of appreciation for aspects of Open Science that might you not expect at first glance.
Open Science is not just sharing your data or paying for Open Access. Countless everyday decisions are about making science more accessible, inclusive and reliable: sharing the steps of your research process, for example. ‘This makes the steps transparent and gives everyone access so they can learn from or build on them’, Anna van 't Veer explains. ‘And anyone can explain certain aspects and remove any errors.’ IT can also mean other forms of publishing, such as in non-profit Diamond journals that do not charge fees to authors or readers.
Profile
Anna van ’t Veer is an assistant professor, researcher and community manager at the Institute of Psychology’s Methodology and Statistics unit. Her research and teaching focus on Responsible Scholarship: what are ways to conduct our research so that science is as effective as possible and remains self-correcting? She is the community manager of the Open Science Community Leiden and chair of the board of the national network of Open Science Communities. She is also an Open Science ambassador in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Academia in Motion team.
Career risks
Van ’t Veer decided years ago to focus on Open Science, accepting the risks to her career as part of the deal. ‘I didn’t just go for papers that would count on my CV but told others about the principles and values of Open Science. I also championed other forms of publishing and helped colleagues put Open Science into practice through the Open Science Community in Leiden.That’s how I do my bit to improve science.’
Changing culture
Van ’t Veer thinks the word Open should be dropped from Open Science. ‘It’s just science, as it always should have been. It serves the common good. You don’t do science for yourself. But we have a system with lots of competition, egotism and short-term thinking and it almost seems like you can’t do things differently if you want to stay in academia.’
She can see the culture is changing. There is increasing recognition and rewards for people who push for Open Science. The Dutch Research Council (NWO) also offers financial support to the 12 Open Science communities in The Netherlands, with the aim of universities taking this over at some point. And she recently received the Leo Waaijers Open Science Award from the University Libraries and National Library for her bold, impactful and inspiring services to Open Science. ‘I’m so pleased this prize exists. As a tribute to Leo, who was ahead of his time and dared to face up to the uncomfortable truths. And as national recognition of what we find important in science’, says Van ’t Veer.
Tips for getting started with Open Science
Want to get started with Open Science? Van ’t Veer has five tips:
- Find out whether your discipline has a Diamond journal where you can publish without fees vfor authors or readers (filter on ‘without fees’).
- Ask your Open Science questions in the OSCL Q&A channel in Teams, so we can learn from each other.
- Look on ResearchEquals.com if you want to publish output other than a paper. You’ll find examples of citable output from an Open Science event. This is the second year running that the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Library and Open Access committee are supporting this platform.
- Sign the petition for alternative forms of publication.
- See the ‘take your next step’ page with Open Science tips and support in Leiden.
Text: Dagmar Aarts
Photo: Anna van ’t Veer receives the Leo Waaijers Open Science Award. Credit: Pim Rusch