Blog > Open Science: Principles, Benefits, and Initiatives at the Max Planck Society

Open Science: Principles, Benefits, and Initiatives at the Max Planck Society

Jan. 10th, 2025

As digital transformation progresses, the scientific community is shifting toward openness to enhance transparency, accessibility, and inclusivity in research. The Research Tools and Open Science at the KHI seminar, held on December 11th, 2024, explored the principles of Open Science, its benefits, and the initiatives of the Max Planck Society (MPG) in this area. Here’s an overview of the key takeaways.

Index

What is Open Science?​

Open Science aims to democratize and enhance the scientific process. It emphasizes principles of transparency, sharing, and inclusivity:

  • Transparency

    Open Science makes every stage of research visible - methods, data, and findings - allowing others to verify and build upon them.

  • Sharing

    By removing paywalls and restrictive licenses, Open Science ensures free access to publications, data, and tools, fostering global collaboration.

  • Inclusivity

    Open Science engages diverse communities, including citizen scientists and underrepresented groups, ensuring equitable access and contributions to knowledge.

This approach extends beyond the natural sciences, encompassing the humanities and social sciences under terms like open research or open scholarship.

Benefits of Open Science

  • Universal Access to Knowledge

    Open Science ensures that publicly funded research is freely available to everyone, eliminating barriers to information.

  • Accelerated Innovation

    Transparency and adherence to FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) enable reproducible and trustworthy research.

  • Enhanced Collaboration

    Open Science breaks down disciplinary and geographic barriers, fostering global teamwork.

  • Fair Resource Access

    Researchers worldwide gain equitable access to essential data and tools.

  • Increased Trust and Accountability

    Transparent research methods enhance public trust and scientific credibility.

Open Access

Open Access (OA) ensures unrestricted and cost-free online access to scholarly research, aligning closely with the principles of Open Science. By removing financial, technical, and legal barriers, OA democratizes knowledge, making it accessible to a wider audience. This approach enhances the visibility and impact of research while promoting transparency and the reuse of knowledge. At the Max Planck Society, initiatives led by the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) aim to simplify Open Access publishing for researchers. MPG supports Open Access through initiatives like:

  • MPDL Agreements​

    Covering or reducing article processing charges (APCs) for MPG authors.

  • MPG Open Access Journal Finder​​

    A tool listing supported journals for free Open Access publishing.

  • MPG.PuRe​​

    MPG’s institutional repository for Green Open Access, enabling researchers to share publications and supplementary materials.

  • DOI Service​

    The MPDL is supporting Max Planck researchers with registering Datacite DOI names to scholarly objects stored in MPG repositories (overview in following slides).

Open Research Data

Open research data refers to data supporting scientific research that is openly accessible without restrictions, adhering to the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. These principles ensure that research data can be easily located, accessed, and reused while remaining compatible with other datasets. While exceptions for privacy and security may apply, any restrictions must be justified and aligned with FAIR guidelines.The Max Planck Society supports open research data through several tools:

  • RDMO

    A platform that assists researchers in systematically planning, organizing, and managing data throughout the course of a project.

  • Edmond

    A research data repository that allows Max Planck researchers to store completed datasets with open access, providing the ability to create citable research objects.

Focus: Persistent Identifiers

Assigning persistent identifiers, such as Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), to research data, software, and unpublished text is becoming increasingly important to improve the citability of these resources. Unlike URLs, DOIs point directly to the digital object itself, ensuring long-term access and stability. While DOIs are already commonly used for publications, they are also being applied to research data. Through an agreement with the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB Hannover), Max Planck researchers can assign DOIs to their scientific output, including research data, software, and grey literature. This service is integrated into platforms such as Edmond, MPG.PuRe, and Keeper.

For larger projects, Max Planck Institutes have the option to establish their own DataCite repositories to manage DOI distribution locally. Additionally, individual DOIs can be requested via the DOI Service request form.
Persistent identifier initiatives include:

  • DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

    Points directly to digital objects for long-term access and citability.

  • ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID)

    Identifies authors and contributors in the research community.

  • ROR (Research Organization Registry)

    Assigns persistent identifiers to research organizations.

Focus: Data Licensing

To enable the reuse of research data, it is essential to define clear conditions through licenses. Licenses are agreements that specify the usage rights, ensuring others know how they can reuse the data. Without a license, the conditions for reuse remain unclear, which can discourage others from using the data, even with good intentions. Creative Commons (CC) licenses are widely used in research to clarify these terms and facilitate data sharing. Some common types of CC licenses include:
PDM
Public domain mark: Labels work that is not restricted by copyright.
Allows others to reuse your work without any conditions.
CC0
CC BY

Requires attribution to the original author and other designated parties.

CC ND
No Derivatives: Only verbatim copies of the work can be shared.
CC NC
Non-Commercial: Excludes commercial use from the license grant.
CC BY-SA
Attribution-ShareAlike: Allows others to remix, modify, and share the work, but any derivative works must be licensed under the same or a compatible license.
It is recommended to use the least restrictive license, such as CC0 or CC-BY, to maximize data reuse and collaboration potential. More restrictive licenses, like CC-BY-SA or CC-BY-NC, may limit the compatibility of data with other resources, potentially hindering future collaboration.

Open Science at MPG

The Max Planck Society has implemented various initiatives to promote Open Science, focusing on transparency, accessibility, and collaboration:

References and Resources