Open scholarship has been touted as a means of accelerating research progress, promoting collaboration, and enhancing reproducibility. Proponents argue that open scholarship enables wider access to research materials, facilitates greater transparency, and fosters more opportunities for collaboration. And collaboration has been shown to increase both the impact and speed in delivering results, as demonstrated by the COVID-19 vaccine successes.
However, others remain skeptical of these claims and suggest that open scholarship may actually hinder research progress, create unnecessary conflicts, and lead to questionable research outcomes. Our hearts and minds believe openness is the right path, but more evidence is needed.