The challenges of open science policies

Abstract

Over the last few years, open science has captured the interest of scientists, policy makers and international development agencies, in large part because of the benefits promised by the new practices. Nevertheless, as the ideas of open science are transformed into concrete initiatives, those initiatives begin to encounter challenges that can delay and/or impede their implementation. Amongst them we find: the absence of knowledge and/or the skills to perform new practices, normative or institutional barriers that block the progress of opening up knowledge production, and the lack of infrastructure which can discourage adoption of new practices. This work systematizes the challenges that open science practices face so as to inform the future development of science and technology policies that can facilitate the advance of those practices in the region.