This section is dedicated to popularizing the concept of open science, providing an introduction to related concepts, access to open resources, information on related policies, and the latest examples of practices in various fields, and providing comprehensive support for teachers, students, and researchers. The content of this section is continuously updated, so please check this page regularly for the latest news.
Related concepts
Open Access (OA)
This concept was first introduced in the Budapest Open Access Initiative in 2002, and refers to the open publication of scientific results by authors directly on the Internet, allowing the public to freely access, reproduce, disseminate, or make any other legal use of them without infringing on the authors' reserved rights.
Basic forms of open access
Gold Open Access (Gold OA): open access in the narrow sense, also known as open publication. It refers to the provision of free open access to a journal paper through the journal's website immediately after peer-reviewed publication.
Green OA: Also known as Open Storage or Author Self-Archiving, refers to the process whereby authors deposit the final, peer-reviewed, finalized manuscript of a journal paper into the institutional knowledge base after publication, and make it available for open access after a certain period of time or immediately.
Open Access Transformation Agreements (TA)
This is a transitional open access transformation strategy that changes the business model of scholarly journal publishing from a subscription fee model to one in which publishers are paid for their open access publishing services.
Main Open Access Routes
1.Preprint
Preprint refers to scientific research papers, scientific reports, conference papers, and other academic results that researchers voluntarily release at academic conferences or through the Internet for the purpose of communication with peers before they have been peer-reviewed and published in official publications. It is free and open for all to search, share, cite and comment. The following are some commonly used preprint platforms at home and abroad:
Disciplinary synthesis:
arXiv：The largest repository of preprints, created in 1991 and currently managed and maintained by Cornell University.
preprints.org：A preprint platform created by leading open access publisher MDPI.
ChinaXiv：The full name is Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Scientific and Technical Papers Pre-Release Platform, which is a preprint exchange platform constructed by the Documentation and Intelligence Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) with the support of the Bureau of Science Communication of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2016.
National preprint platform：Jointly constructed by the China Institute of Science and Technology Information and the National Science and Technology Library and Documentation Center.
Medical biology：
bioRxiv：Founded in 2013 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA, in the field of life sciences.
PsyArXiv：2016 Created by the Association for the Advancement of Psychological Science in collaboration with OSFPreprints, field of psychology.
medRxiv：2019 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, BMJ Publishing Group and Yale University in the fields of medicine, clinical and health sciences.
Preprint System for Biomedical Science and Technology Papers：Founded by the Institute of Medical Information of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, it focuses on the field of biomedicine.
Chemical：
ChemRxiv：Preprint platform specializing in chemistry and related fields.
Technology and Engineering：
Techrxiv：A preprint platform launched by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), focusing on the fields of electrical engineering, computer science, and related technologies.
China Science Paper Online：Approved by the ministry of education, by the ministry of education science and technology development center hosts the science and technology thesis website.
Social sciences：
Social Science Research Network（SSRN）：Founded in 1994 to provide social science researchers with a platform for rapid access to social science research information.
SocArXiv：A preprint platform in the social sciences hosted by the University of Maryland.
Preprint Citation Index：The preprint citation indexing platform introduced by Corevion in 2023 in the Web of Science platform provides one-stop access to nearly 2.5 million preprinted papers including preprint platforms such as arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv, chemRxiv and preprints.org.
2. Open Access Resource Integration Platform
Various types of open access resource integration platforms are also one of the main channels for open access resources, and the following are commonly used open access resource integration platforms at home and abroad:
Periodicals：
Directory of Open Access Journals（DOAJ）：Organized by Lund University Library, Sweden, one of the most influential open access journal databases in the world.
Open Access Library：An open access database created by Open Access Library, Inc.
PubMed Central：A large-scale search platform for biomedicine sponsored by the National Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of Health.
BioMed Central：A series of open access journals hosted by the UK Biomedical Center, covering all areas of biomedicine and science.
Open Research Europe（ORE）：An open access publishing platform provided by the European Commission.
Open Science Directory：An open access journal search platform developed by EBSCO in collaboration with Hasselt University Library.
SpringerOpen：An open access journal platform owned by the renowned publisher Springer Springer.
HighWire Press：The world's largest publisher of scholarly literature offering free full text, founded in 1995 by Stanford University Libraries.
China Open Access Platform for Science and Technology Journals COAJ：By Chinese academy of sciences supervises, Chinese science and technology publication media company limited company sponsors open access, academic, non-profit science and technology literature resources portal.
National Social Science Fund Academic Journals Database NSSD：By the national philosophy and social science planning leading group approval construction, the Chinese academy of social sciences construction national, open, public welfare philosophy and social science information platform.
GoOA：Funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Documentation and Intelligence Center construction launched open resources.
Open Access Journals Recommended List OARL：China Book Import and Export (Group) Co., Ltd. in conjunction with Tsinghua University Library and China University Science and Technology Journal Research Association jointly initiated.
SciOpen：Open access resources for specialized science and technology content published by Tsinghua University Press and partners.
Hans Publishers Chinese Open Access Academic Journals Communication Platform：Hans Publishing is an international comprehensive open source academic journal publisher, specializing in the publication and distribution of international open source Chinese journals.
China Optics Journals Network Database：Supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, it covers all the journal resources of the five top optical institutes in China.
Books：
Directory of Open Access Books：Global OA book search platform.
Taylor & Francis Open Access Books：Taylor&Francis publishes an open access system for books, monographs or co-authored books, anthologies, and stand-alone chapters.
Open Textbook Library：Open Textbook Library, created by the College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota, USA.
Hathitrust：A nonprofit digital library developed by a number of U.S. colleges and universities in conjunction with organizations such as Google.
Gutenberg：Project Gutenberg, with a focus on Western classics.
Shuge：Open Online Antiquarian Library.
Theses and Dissertations：
Open Access Theses and Dissertations：Consists of dissertations submitted by various universities and research institutes around the world, covering a wide range of subject areas.
NDLTD，Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations：An online dissertation commons project supported by the NSF that provides users with free dissertation abstracts and partially accessible full text of free dissertations.
In addition, some university libraries will open up free downloads of their BoM dissertations, so for some specific BoM dissertations, it is also an effective way to find them in the university's library.
Courses：
Lifelong Education Platform of the Open University of China：It brings together the self-built learning resources of the National Open University, the course resources of 338 famous universities, and the special courses of 10 head platforms, totaling 500,000 courses, and is committed to meeting the diversified and personalized learning needs of the general public.
China University MOOC：Launched by NetEase and Higher Education Society, the online education platform provides high-quality course resources from many colleges and universities, with a wide range of course types covering a variety of fields such as science and technology, humanities, and social sciences.
National Higher Education Smart Platform：A treasure trove of higher education knowledge specifically for adults and current college students. The platform covers almost all university courses and allows users to study online by searching for majors or courses.
XuetangX：Developed by Tsinghua University, the Chinese MOOC platform is the research exchange and results application platform of the Online Education Research Center of the Ministry of Education, providing online courses for the world.
MIT OpenCourseWare：MIT's Open Courses program provides free online learning resources for a large number of undergraduate and graduate courses in a wide range of fields, including science, engineering, and the humanities.
edX：A massive open online classroom platform created in April 2012 by MIT and Harvard University. It currently partners with more than 160 universities and institutions to offer thousands of courses covering a wide range of fields, including science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), humanities, business, law, languages, and more.
Coursera：Massive open online course program, founded by two computer science professors at Stanford University, USA. It aims to provide open online courses in collaboration with the world's leading universities.
Comprehensive：
NSTL Open Access Resource System：OA system jointly constructed by the National Science and Technology Library and Documentation Center and the National Science and Technology Digital Library.
PubScholar：By the Chinese Academy of Sciences Documentation and Intelligence Center, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Computer Network Information Center, China Science and Technology Publishing Media Corporation (Science Publishing House) and other units jointly constructed a public welfare academic resources platform.
Socolar-OA：A multidisciplinary open access academic resource platform developed by China Education Book Import and Export Corporation.
Open DOAR: The Directory of Open Access Repositories：Open Access Warehousing Retrieval System (OAWRS), which provides a global inventory of high-quality open access information repositories.
National Digital Library of China：The Digital Library Project launched by the National Library of China aims to digitize the library's collection resources and provide more convenient and efficient digital reading services.
China Engineering Science and Technology Knowledge Center：The Chinese Academy of Engineering alliance of more than 30 domestic research institutes, colleges and universities to build the field of engineering and science and technology information convergence center, data mining center and knowledge service center.
National Platform for High-End Exchange of Scientific Research Papers and Technological Information：A general term for a series of high-level information service platforms for China's scientific research practice and management activities.
Thematic Resources：
Data Platform of the Anti-Japanese War and Modern Sino-Japanese Relations：It is the fundamental and landmark core project and main project of the National Social Science Foundation's special project for the study of the War of Resistance against Japan, led by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the National Library, the State Archives and the Chinese Academy of History, and undertaken by the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Chinese Classics Resource Library：By Beijing Normal University, the Chinese Calligraphers Association and other ten universities and departments, organized including ancient literature, philosophy and calligraphy, more than 40 domestic and foreign well-known experts to participate in the recording of the great treasure of classic literature.
Allhistory：With AI knowledge mapping as the core driving force, we are committed to constructing and presenting rich and diverse digital humanities content in the form of highly temporalized and correlated data, especially for historical knowledge.
3. Open Institutional Knowledge Repository
Also known as OA warehousing, the main body is generally for university libraries, research institutes or academic organizations, the storage object for the internal members of the organization or institution in the process of academic research produced a variety of valuable resources.
Directory of Open Access Repositories：Currently the largest open access knowledge base search platform
GSE Open Archive：Stanford University Institutional Knowledge Repository
DSpace@MIT：MIT Knowledge Repository
Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard（DASH）：Harvard University Institutional Knowledge Repository
Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository：University of Cambridge Institutional Knowledge Repository
Oxford University Research Archive：University of Oxford Institutional Knowledge Repository
escholarship：University of California Institutional Knowledge Repository
DukeSpace：Duke University Institutional Knowledge Repository
Chinese Academy of Sciences Institutional Knowledge Repository
National Natural Science Foundation of China Basic Research Knowledge Repository
HKUST Institutional Repository：Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Institutional Knowledge Repository
HKU Scholars Hub：University of Hong Kong Academic Repository
Global Open Access Developments
Recent News：
New Guidelines Help German Universities Advance Open Science Strategies（2025-01-03）
A Review of the Major Events in Global Open Science in 2024（2024-12-27）
The International Directory of Recommended Open Access Journals (OARL) has been released（2024-12-26）
NASA Advances Disaster Research and Recovery with Artificial Intelligence and Open Science（2024-11-26）
Related Policies and Regulations
International
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International Organization
UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science（UNESCO 2021）
UNESCO's open science recommendations: A publisher action plan（UNESCO 2022）
Open educational resources: policy, costs, transformation（UNESCO 2016）
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Government Organization
EU：Policy RECommendations for Open Access to Research Data in Europe (RECODE)（2013）、Horizon 2020（2014）、FOSTER:The future of science is OPEN（2014）、European Open Science Cloud, EOSC（2018）、Open Research Europe，ORE（2021）、Open Science and Intellectual Property Rights（2022）
G8：Open Data Charter（2013）
United States of America：The Openness Promotes Effectiveness in Our National Government Act of 2007（2007）、U.S. Open Data Action Plan（2014）、Open Science at NASA、Year of Open Science（2023）
Germany：Open Government Data Germany（2012）
the Netherlands：Amsterdam Call for Action on Open Science（2016）、Nationaal plan open science（2017）、Open Science 2030 in the Netherlands（2022）
England：Open standards for government data and technology（2017）
French：Second French Plan for Open Science（2021）
Japan：Japan Open Data Charter Action Plan（2013）、JST Policy on Open Access to Research Publications and Research Data Management（2017）
Finland：Declaration for Open Science and Research 2020–2025（2020）
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Research Organization
Max Planck Digital Library, Germany, etc.：Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities（2003）、OA2020 Progress Report（2016）、OA2020Plan S（2018）
Research Councils UK（RCUK）：RCUK Policy on Open Access and Supporting Guidance（2005）、Concordat on Open Research
Data（2016）Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)：CNRS Roadmap for Open Science（2019）
European University Association (EUA)：2025The EUA Open Science Agenda 2025、European University Association CoARA Action Plan (2023-2027)
German Research Foundation (DFG), etc.：Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges (ESAC) （2014），ESAC Reference Guide to Transformative Agreements （2023）
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University Open Access Policy
Stanford University Open Access Protocol：https://openarchive.stanford.edu/policy
Harvard University Open Access Policy：https://osc.hul.harvard.edu/policies/
University of California Open Access Policy：https://escholarship.org/ucoapolicies
MIT Open Access Policy：Open access policies at MIT | Scholarly Communications - MIT Libraries
Duke University Open Access Column：Duke ScholarWorks » Open Access
University of Minnesota Open Science Policy：https://www.lib.umn.edu/services/open-access
Oxford University Open Access Policy：https://openaccess.ox.ac.uk/home
University of Cambridge Open Access Policy：https://www.openaccess.cam.ac.uk/university-policies-guidance
University College London Open Access Policy：Open Access | Library Services - UCL – University College London
University of Birmingham Open Science Policy：https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/environment-culture/open-research-statement
University of Manchester Open Science Policy：Open Research principles (Office for Open Research)
University of Bristol Open Science Policy：Open Research | Staff | University of Bristol
National University Library of Japan: examples of reference work related to open science and research data management（オープンサイエンス及び研究データ管理に係る参考となる取組事例）
Domestic
Science and Technology Progress Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised in 2021)：The requirement to promote the development of open science marks China's formal establishment of open science, including open access, as one of the development directions of national science and technology.
For more practices related to the field of open science, see：
China's Implementation of Action Areas in Line with UNESCO's Recommendation on Open Science
Open access policy search site
Open Policy Finder，An open access policy lookup tool provided by Jisc (UK Joint Information Systems Committee) summarizes global open access policies of research funding agencies, academic publishers, and journals that can help users:
- Check whether publishing in a specific journal complies with the funder's open access policy;
- Get an overview of open access archiving conditions for each journal and book publisher;
- Check the funder's conditions for open access publishing.
Other relevant resources
Committee on Data for Science and Technology（CODATA）
Research Center for Open Science at the Library and Information Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Tsinghua University Library-Open Science Section
the Library of Southern University of Science and Technology-Open Access Resources
the Library of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology-Open Science Topic
Xiaomuchong Forum（Interactive Platform for Academic Research）
ResearchGate（Global Academic Exchange Platform）
Challenges and responses to open science
- Challenges: data privacy and security, intellectual property and copyright, cultural and attitudinal shifts; cost-bearing issues in open scientific publishing, uneven quality of publications, lack of equity in publishing opportunities, publication bias; lack of a guiding policy agenda, conflicts of interest among participating actors, etc.
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How should we, as users, respond to the challenges of open science?
Reference suggestions:
(1) Raise awareness of data privacy and security: Familiarize yourself with relevant data protection laws and regulations, use tools with guaranteed security, desensitize sensitive information before sharing data, and ensure that data is anonymous and unidentifiable.
(2) Respect for intellectual property and copyright: Familiarize yourself with copyright laws and regulations, understand the legal framework for open access and open data, and ensure compliance with relevant regulations when using and sharing resources. When using open access resources, ensure that reasonable scope of use is followed and avoid unauthorized copying and modification. When using other people's research results, ensure proper citation and attribution, and respect the intellectual property rights of the original authors.
(3) Actively participate in cultural and conceptual change: Enhance one's scientific literacy, learn to recognize the authenticity of scientific information, and avoid being misled by erroneous information. Participate in relevant training and educational activities to improve the understanding and awareness of open science. In scientific research and academic activities, actively advocate the concept of open science, encourage peers to participate in data sharing and cooperation, and promote the development of an open science culture.
(4) Support and participate in quality control mechanisms: if given the opportunity, actively participate in open data and open peer review to improve the reproducibility and transparency of research. When using open access resources, provide feedback and suggestions to help improve the quality and reliability of the resources. Prioritize the use and recommendation of high-quality open access resources, and support journals and platforms with good reputations and rigorous quality control.
(5) Promote equitable access and use: Use and support open source tools and platforms to lower the technological threshold and ensure that more people can access and utilize research results equally. Join relevant communities and forums to participate in discussions and exchanges, help solve technical problems, and promote knowledge sharing. Make recommendations to policymakers and institutional managers to promote the formulation and implementation of policies and measures in favor of open science.