Messing with Merton: The intersection between open science practices and Mertonian values

Although adherence to Mertonian values of science (i.e., communism, universalism, organized skepticism, disinterestedness) is desired and promoted in academia, such adherence can cause friction with the normative structures and practices of Open Science. Mertonian values and Open Science practices a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Accountability in research 2024-07, Vol.31 (5), p.428-455
Main Authors: Hosseini, Mohammad, Senabre Hidalgo, Enric, Horbach, Serge P.J.M., Güttinger, Stephan, Penders, Bart
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communism
Data integrity
disinterestedness
Ethical standards
Ethics, Research
Humans
Merton
Open access
Open Science
organized skepticism
Research ethics
research integrity
Research Personnel - psychology
Research Personnel - standards
Science
Science - standards
Skepticism
Social Values
Universalism
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Although adherence to Mertonian values of science (i.e., communism, universalism, organized skepticism, disinterestedness) is desired and promoted in academia, such adherence can cause friction with the normative structures and practices of Open Science. Mertonian values and Open Science practices aim to improve the conduct and communication of research and are promoted by institutional actors. However, Mertonian values remain mostly idealistic and contextualized in local and disciplinary cultures and Open Science practices rely heavily on third-party resources and technology that are not equally accessible to all parties. Furthermore, although still popular, Mertonian values were developed in a different institutional and political context. In this article, we argue that new normative structures for science need to look beyond nostalgia and consider aspirations and outcomes of Open Science practices. To contribute to such a vision, we explore the intersection of several Open Science practices with Mertonian values to flesh out challenges involved in upholding these values. We demonstrate that this intersection becomes complicated when the interests of numerous groups collide and contrast. Acknowledging and exploring such tensions informs our understanding of researchers' behavior and supports efforts that seek to improve researchers' interactions with other normative structures such as research ethics and integrity frameworks.
ISSN:0898-9621
1545-5815
1545-5815
DOI:10.1080/08989621.2022.2141625