Open Science encompasses a set of strategies and practices aimed at making scientific processes more transparent, accessible, and reusable with the help of digital tools. By opening up research results, data, and methods, it seeks not only to reduce barriers to scientific exchange, but also to increase the quality and reproducibility of research.
Open Science includes Open Data (closely connected to Research Data Management), Open Access, Citizen Science, Open Education, Open Methodology, Open Notebook Science, Open Peer Review, Open Source and more.
Core principles include transparency, open communication, reproducibility, and the adoption of standards such as the FAIR principles (findability, accessibility, interoperability, reusability), which ensure the sustainable use of data and scholarly outputs.
Researchers benefit from Open Science through more efficient collaboration, increased visibility of their work, and improved opportunities for validation - for example, through the reproducibility of analyses, transparent peer‑review processes, or collaborative identification of sources of error. Moreover, the open provision of resources such as open access publications or research data (Open Data) accelerates the transfer of knowledge into society and the economy. In the long term, Open Science fosters a research culture grounded in openness, exchange, and innovation—both within academia and beyond.
The OSI connects researchers from all faculties who are interested in Open Science, gathers experiences and needs, and jointly develops ideas on how to further strengthen Open Science within the university community.
Passau's 'Methodikum-Methodological Research in the Humanities' cordially invites you to the first networking meeting via Zoom on 15 January 2026 at 6 p.m.
