Open Science Project at the Universidad Central de Chile

Background: This project was funded with a two-year innovation in higher education (InES) grant from the Chilean government in 2021.

Mission: The focus was on starting an open access and data repository as the country implements its new open access policy. The project aims to educate researchers in their discipline and the university community about open science.

Community over Commercialization:

“We have a very bottom-up approach and tried to create a community of practitioners of open science in the university. The policy is formalizing and giving a formal recognition of that community of practice. We are not looking into commercialization. Open science for us is a community issue, not entrepreneurial.”

“Open science is about better science. And who does the science is the scientist. It's not companies. In my country, there are almost no private companies investing in research. About 80% of the funding comes from the government. It's a very different landscape from the Northern Hemisphere. Research is done by the research community to advance knowledge, and companies just came along for the ride. If we want to change the way research is done, we have to make it as a research community. We have to make it reflect our values.”

-Soledad Quiroz, associate director, Open Science Project at the Universidad Central de Chile

“We use mainly open, transparent platforms. When I use OpenAlex among other similar platforms, I know (or I can ask) what they are doing with the data. If I buy something commercial, I have no idea, and usually, they don't use persistent identifiers. We are trying not to depend on commercial infrastructures. It is just not ethical to use gray sources. If we are telling researchers to be open and clear. We, from the administration, also have to use open and clear platforms…We have the UNESCO Principles of Open Science among many different declarations, and we are trying to develop something that works in our culture, in our community to meet our needs.”

“We are researchers. We don't have a business, I mean, we are not producing spaghetti or chocolate, we are generating knowledge. So, who is making money from this enterprise? The researcher is not making money. They don’t have a little enterprise in their laboratory. However, at the institutional level, you have a problem with commercialization of quality, impact and ranks. Absolutely.

-Ricardo Hartley, director, Open Science Project at the Universidad Central de Chile