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\begin{document}

\title{Open in order to\ldots{}level the playing field}



\author[1]{Imogen Malpas}%
\affil[1]{Sparrho}%


\vspace{-1em}



  
  \date{May 25, 2024}


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I work for a science research discovery platform that allows users to
group and share articles intuitively, then leverages machine learning to
provide them with recommendations. At its core, our mission is to make
science more accessible by improving the access experience: in other
words, to help level the playing field when it comes to public
engagement with science, a field which for decades (if not centuries)
has been stubbornly tilted in favour of those with significant levels of
both education and money.

\par\null

Our problem? Plenty of the articles we index require a fee to be read in
full. How can we level anything when the scientific publishing industry
insists on stacking up the field against us?

\par\null

Many of our users are PhDs and postdocs; not only highly educated in the
subject they're researching, they're also almost certainly affiliated
with an institution that provides free journal access. Whilst open
access is no less important for this group, to ensure that the most
fruitful collaborative work can take place, the users who are left
behind from the start are those we term `citizen scientists'. These are
members of the public who are less likely to be familiar with the
vocabulary of the subject they have set out to research, who almost
certainly do not have paid access to subscription journals, and who may
be seeking out research for personal reasons, such as to find out more
about a recent diagnosis for themselves or for a loved one, to help them
decide on a field of future study, or simply for personal interest.
They're stuck at the lowest end of the playing field.~

\par\null

The problem with open access, the argument goes, is that it's useless:
citizens who do not hold advanced degrees need scientific training to
understand the articles in the first place. Yet fostering an `open
culture' will build public scientific literacy from the ground up by
encouraging people to inform themselves about science from primary
sources. And - to co-opt
the~\href{https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/shoreditch_electricity/}{slogan}
that decorates a building not far from our offices in Shoreditch, London
- more scientific literacy, more power.~

\par\null

The effects of a cultural sea change like this could be dramatic. Nature
called the impact of releasing papers to the public
``\href{http://www.nature.com/openresearch/about-open-access/benefits-for-authors/}{astonishing}'',
apparently surprised that anybody not holed up in an ivory tower would
have any interest in research that is ostensibly done for the good of
the public. The shock that public engagement actually~\emph{works} isn't
new: consider the resurgence
of~\href{http://blogs.plos.org/thestudentblog/2017/05/19/the-crowd-and-the-cloud-the-impact-of-citizen-science/}{citizen
science}, a~flourishing movement borne of scientists' realisation that
patterns or anomalies in data might just as well be spotted by laypeople
as by trained scientists, which has produced democratic and
cultural~\href{https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/citizen-science-is-stimulating-a-wealth-of-innovative-projects/}{movements}
to the surprise of many of its
practitioners.~\href{https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/citizen-science-is-stimulating-a-wealth-of-innovative-projects/}{Steven
Bishop} writes how citizen science not only permits but delights in the
participation of those who do not fit inside the narrow categories of
``affluent, literate and educated''. Perhaps scientific publishing has
something to learn from this radical ethos - and its radical success.

\par\null

Concretely, what could an open culture do for us? A lot, is the answer.
Pupils at schools too underfunded to afford journal subscriptions could
nevertheless~be introduced to advanced science and scientific inquiry,
helping to shape their powers of critical thought in a critical age -
maybe even giving them the tools to
begin~\href{https://www.theguardian.com/science/life-and-physics/2017/nov/03/why-dont-we-let-young-people-contribute-to-cutting-edge-science-at-school}{contributing}
to science, and by doing so to start fighting the
\href{http://www.nature.com/news/is-science-only-for-the-rich-1.20650}{systemic
inequality} that continues to plague it.

\par\null

Would-be higher education students unable to afford university fees
could take their education into their own hands by learning for
themselves what was previously hidden behind a paywall too high to scale
without institutional help. Any person able to read about science for
themselves is far less likely to be duped by `fake news', a tide that
threatens, however distantly, to engulf rational inquiry. ~The spread of
open culture - a different kind of tide - would begin to beat at the
barriers that have stood for centuries~between academia and the public,
barriers that have largely served only to increase resentment and
distrust of science itself.~

\par\null

Open scholarship raises the bar that sets our preconceptions about what
science and its practitioners should look like, and invites us to join
it. It hints at a world where researchers, far from being forced to
chase economic stability or arbitrary impact factors, can pursue
research for knowledge's sake: research from which members of the public
can directly, explicitly benefit. Open begins to level out the playing
field.

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