Open Science vs DeSci: what is the difference?

DeTech.World
2 min readJan 2, 2023

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In the 20th century, we could have seen the digital transformation of our society: the rise of the Internet and the proliferation of digital technologies further facilitated the sharing of information including data about scientific research. As a result, for the last decades the concept of open science has gained increasing attention and support, with a number of initiatives and organizations being established to promote the principles of open science and to support the development of open science practices.

What concept of Open Science consist of? And what is the difference between Open Science and Decentralized Science (DeSci)?

Open Science and DeSci are approaches for enhance useful effect of scientific researches

Open Science is another approach to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of scientific research, as well as to promote the public understanding of science and to increase the impact of scientific research on society. Indeed, there is much in common with DeSci on the goals level, isn’t there?

Open science refers to a broad set of principles, practices, and policies that aim to make scientific research and data more open, transparent, and accessible. They are the following:

  1. Open access: making the results of scientific research, including publications and data, freely available to the public.
  2. Open data: making scientific data openly available and reusable, using open data standards and practices.
  3. Open research methods: making the methods and protocols used in scientific research transparent and open to scrutiny.
  4. Open peer review: making the peer review process open and transparent, and involving the wider scientific community in the review process.
  5. Open collaboration: encouraging collaboration and the sharing of knowledge within the scientific community and with other stakeholders.
  6. Open education: promoting the use of open educational resources and the sharing of educational materials and knowledge.

Decentralized science, on the other hand, refers to the use of decentralized technologies, such as blockchain, to enable the sharing and dissemination of scientific knowledge and data in a decentralized manner. This can involve the use of decentralized networks and platforms to store and share scientific data and knowledge, as well as the use of decentralized methods for conducting scientific research and peer review.

The main difference between open science and decentralized science is that open science primarily focuses on making scientific research and data more open and accessible, while decentralized science focuses on using decentralized technologies to enable the sharing and dissemination of scientific knowledge and data in a decentralized manner. Both approaches aim to increase the transparency, efficiency, and impact of scientific research, but they do so in different ways.

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