Category: Theory of OS

Magdalena Wnuk

Open science is a social construct and set of practices which has evolved over time and played multiple roles in scholarly communication. As such, it can be studied, becoming an object of research itself. One method which is particularly useful for understanding the growth of the open science movement is network analysis, which captures how academic communication develops and theorises this evolving set of practices and underlying ideas. In the SCIROS project, we approach ‘open science’ as a distinct paradigm, which emerged in the latter half of the 20th century, though it draws on much older intellectual traditions (Leonelli 2023; David 2008). As a paradigm, open science encompasses a specific constellation of concepts, methods, and ways of framing research questions. It is continuously reshaped through both theoretical reflection and practical application. Therefore, we employ social network analysis to explore open science as a paradigm – mapping the circulation of key concepts related to openness, identifying clusters of collaboration, and detecting the most influential actors in the field. For this analysis, we utilise data from three sources: Scopus and Web of Science (both commercial), and  OpenAlex (free). The creation of our dataset has been described in a previous blog post, which can be found here.