Open Science: Just science done right!
The vast majority of scholarly research and knowledge is held hostage by private corporations. This disadvantages everyone on this planet, except for those in the wealthiest, elite research institutes. Commercial publishing giants have profit margins that exceed Apple and even ‘Big Oil’ (>35%). Controlled by these players, science is not working as well as it could be. We are not communicating research effectively, and our world is suffering as a result. By preventing access to research, we are acting against meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We have to act now, as a global scientific community and take control of [open] research. Good methods and tools already exist, they just need to be used. Making science more open is not destroying your personal career, but it will increase the visibility and potential impact of your research. Why? Because Open Science is just science done right!
Jon is a palaeontologist and geologist by training and holds a PhD from Imperial College London. His scientific work focuses on mass extinctions. Therefore, he takes great pleasure in trying to shift towards an open research culture not controlled by commercial publishers who have very much over-stayed their welcome on this planet. He has spent the last few years working in science policy, communications, writing kids books about dinosaurs, working for tech startups, and works now as an independent researcher. He uses this rogue position to campaign for open research on a daily basis, for example through creation of the Open Science MOOC, and challenging Elsevier and other publishers and their proprietary practices through political and public activism. Jon is criticizing the DEAL negotiations as just another form of knowledge privatization, and he also initiated an EU petition to protest against the decision to take Elsevier as a sole subcontractor for the EU Open Science Monitor. Most recently he co-ordinated the publishing of the Foundations for Open Scholarship Strategy, in an attempt to help co-ordinate the movement towards an open research culture.
Hosts: Johannes Graupner, Angelina Tittmann, Cliff Buschhardt