Open Science

Open Science refers to various practices that make scientific research findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable worldwide. It is based on the fundamental principles of transparency, reproducibility, reusability and open communication. Consequently, Open Science contributes to safeguarding good research practice and facilitating the transfer of knowledge to society and the economy.

Open access aims to make academic research accessible on the World Wide Web without financial, legal or technical barriers and to ensure its reusability on a legal basis by employing open content licenses. Freely accessible research data (open data) and open educational materials (open educational resources) are forms of open access publications. Open data contributes significantly to the traceability, validation, reproducibility and reusability of research processes and findings and thus to the transparency and innovation potential of science and research. Open educational resources are associated in particular with the possibility to improve teaching through the reuse of teaching materials and to develop didactic concepts collaboratively. Through the use of open source Software and open hardware, the recipient is granted extensive rights per license, which enable the flexible use and improvement of software and hardware for the benefit of the general public.

Open science is dependent on research infrastructures, which in turn should be as open as possible. Open science also aims to increase dialog and public involvement to promote cultural diversity through open science practices.

Figure: UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, 2021, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (p. 11)

The University of Freiburg supports open science. With its Open Science Policy and the Policy on the Handling of Research Data, it acknowledges its obligation to make the achievements and results of its researchers available to society.

The University Library is the University of Freiburg’s central facility to provide service and advice on open access to all university members. The library is also active in the field of research data / open data. By continually expanding its services in these areas, the University Library is making a significant contribution to the transformation of the academic system. With the FreiDok plus repository, it provides the University of Freiburg's central infrastructure for the indexing of publications and research data.