Threat of policy alienation: Exploring the implementation of Open Science policy in research practice

摘要

Many European countries have introduced Open Science (OS) policies to improve the quality andefficiency of science and to increase economic and societal growth. Researchers’ perceptions andexperiences of OS policies remain relatively under-investigated. This explorative study applies thepolicy alienation perspective to understand researchers’ perceptions of OS policy implementation.Analysis of survey responses indicates that researchers have difficulties in coping with OS policyand that they feel policy alienation from OS policy. Hence, researchers may be less willing to try tosupport OS policy implementation despite the fact that OS policies are motivated by the desire toenhance the excellence and quality of research. The findings address how the incentive problemslie not only in the research evaluation and academic credit systems but also in the policy–practicedivide. These problems need to be solved in terms of participation in policymaking and in theknowledge production of ‘openness’ itself.