Difference between revisions of "Journal:Ten simple rules for cultivating open science and collaborative R&D"

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How can we address the complexity and cost of applying science to societal challenges?
How can we address the complexity and cost of applying science to societal challenges?


Open science and collaborative R&D may help.<ref name="NielsenReinventing11">{{cite book |title=Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science |author=Nielsen, M. |publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=272 |year=2011 |isbn=9780691148908}}</ref><ref name=NRCDesigning11">{{cite book |url=https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13245/designing-the-microbial-research-commons-proceedings-of-an-international-symposium |title=Designing the Microbial Research Commons: Proceedings of an International Symposium |author=National Research Council |editor=Uhlir, P.F. |publisher=The National Academies Press |year=2011 |pages=216 |isbn=9780309219792}}</ref><ref name=IoMEstablishing11">{{cite book |url=https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13015/establishing-precompetitive-collaborations-to-stimulate-genomics-driven-product-development-workshop |title=Establishing Precompetitive Collaborations to Stimulate Genomics-Driven Product Development: Workshop Summary |author=Institute of Medicine; Olson, S.; Berger, A.C. |publisher=The National Academies Press |year=2011 |pages=74 |isbn=9780309161824}}</ref> Open science has been described as "a research accelerator."<ref name="WoelfleOpen11">{{cite journal |title=Open science is a research accelerator |journal=Nature Chemistry |author=Woelfle, M.; Olliaro, P.; Todd, M.H. |volume=3 |issue=10 |pages=745-8 |year=2011 |doi=10.1038/nchem.1149 |pmid=21941234}}</ref> Open science implies open access<ref name="PLOSOpenAccess">{{cite web |url=http://collections.plos.org/open-access |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20130420203146/http://www.ploscollections.org/article/browseIssue.action?issue=info:doi/10.1371/issue.pcol.v01.i10 |title=PLOS Collections: Open Access Collection |date=2013 |archivedate=20 April 2013 |accessdate=25 April 2013}}</ref> but goes beyond it: "Imagine a connected online web of scientific knowledge that integrates and connects data, computer code, chains of scientific reasoning, descriptions of open problems, and beyond ... tightly integrated with a scientific social web that directs scientists' attention where it is most valuable, releasing enormous collaborative potential."<ref name="NielsenReinventing11" />
Open science and collaborative R&D may help.<ref name="NielsenReinventing11">{{cite book |title=Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science |author=Nielsen, M. |publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=272 |year=2011 |isbn=9780691148908}}</ref><ref name=NRCDesigning11">{{cite book |url=https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13245/designing-the-microbial-research-commons-proceedings-of-an-international-symposium |title=Designing the Microbial Research Commons: Proceedings of an International Symposium |author=National Research Council |editor=Uhlir, P.F. |publisher=The National Academies Press |year=2011 |pages=216 |isbn=9780309219792}}</ref><ref name="IoMEstablishing11">{{cite book |url=https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13015/establishing-precompetitive-collaborations-to-stimulate-genomics-driven-product-development-workshop |title=Establishing Precompetitive Collaborations to Stimulate Genomics-Driven Product Development: Workshop Summary |author=Institute of Medicine; Olson, S.; Berger, A.C. |publisher=The National Academies Press |year=2011 |pages=74 |isbn=9780309161824}}</ref> Open science has been described as "a research accelerator."<ref name="WoelfleOpen11">{{cite journal |title=Open science is a research accelerator |journal=Nature Chemistry |author=Woelfle, M.; Olliaro, P.; Todd, M.H. |volume=3 |issue=10 |pages=745-8 |year=2011 |doi=10.1038/nchem.1149 |pmid=21941234}}</ref> Open science implies open access<ref name="PLOSOpenAccess">{{cite web |url=http://collections.plos.org/open-access |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20130420203146/http://www.ploscollections.org/article/browseIssue.action?issue=info:doi/10.1371/issue.pcol.v01.i10 |title=PLOS Collections: Open Access Collection |date=2013 |archivedate=20 April 2013 |accessdate=25 April 2013}}</ref> but goes beyond it: "Imagine a connected online web of scientific knowledge that integrates and connects data, computer code, chains of scientific reasoning, descriptions of open problems, and beyond ... tightly integrated with a scientific social web that directs scientists' attention where it is most valuable, releasing enormous collaborative potential."<ref name="NielsenReinventing11" />


Open science and collaborative approaches are often described as open-source, by analogy with open-source software such as the operating system Linux which powers Google and Amazon — collaboratively created software which is free to use and adapt, and popular for internet infrastructure and scientific research.<ref name="PrlićTen12">{{cite journal |title=Ten simple rules for the open development of scientific software |journal=PLOS Computational Biology |author=Prlić, A.; Procter, J.B. |volume=8 |issue=12 |pages=e1002802 |year=2012 |doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002802 |pmid=23236269 |pmc=PMC3516539}}</ref><ref name="FogelProducing13">{{cite web |url=http://producingoss.com/en/ |title=Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project |author=Fogel, K. |date=2013 |accessdate=25 April 2013}}</ref> However, this use of "open source" is unclear. Some people use "open source" when a project's results are free to use, others when a project's process is highly collaborative.<ref name="WoelfleOpen11" />
Open science and collaborative approaches are often described as open-source, by analogy with open-source software such as the operating system Linux which powers Google and Amazon — collaboratively created software which is free to use and adapt, and popular for internet infrastructure and scientific research.<ref name="PrlićTen12">{{cite journal |title=Ten simple rules for the open development of scientific software |journal=PLOS Computational Biology |author=Prlić, A.; Procter, J.B. |volume=8 |issue=12 |pages=e1002802 |year=2012 |doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002802 |pmid=23236269 |pmc=PMC3516539}}</ref><ref name="FogelProducing13">{{cite web |url=http://producingoss.com/en/ |title=Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project |author=Fogel, K. |date=2013 |accessdate=25 April 2013}}</ref> However, this use of "open source" is unclear. Some people use "open source" when a project's results are free to use, others when a project's process is highly collaborative.<ref name="WoelfleOpen11" />
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Many approaches to open science and collaborative R&D have been tried.<ref name="NielsenReinventing11" /><ref name="EkinsCollab11">{{cite book |title=Collaborative Computational Technologies for Biomedical Research |editor=Ekins, S.; Hupcey, M.A.Z.; Williams, A.J. |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc |pages=576 |year=2011 |isbn=9780470638033}}</ref> The Gene Wiki has created over 10,000 Wikipedia articles, and aims to provide one for every notable human gene.<ref name="GoodTheGene12">{{cite journal |title=The Gene Wiki in 2011: Community intelligence applied to human gene annotation |journal=Nucleic Acids Research |author=Good, B.M.; Clarke, E.L.; de Alfaro, L.; Su, A.I. |volume=40 |issue=D1 |pages=D1255-61 |year=2012 |doi=10.1093/nar/gkr925 |pmid=22075991 |pmc=PMC3245148}}</ref> The crowdsourcing platform InnoCentive has reportedly facilitated solutions to roughly half of the thousands of technical problems posed on the site, including many in life sciences such as the $1 million ALS Biomarker Prize.<ref name="BinghamTheOpen11">{{cite book |title=The Open Innovation Marketplace: Creating Value in the Challenge Driven Enterprise |author=Bingham, A.; Spradlin, D. |publisher=FT Press |pages=272 |year=2011 |isbn=9780132311830}}</ref> Other examples include prizes (X-Prize<ref name="WilsonPrizes11Arch">{{cite web |url=http://healthresearchpolicy.org/assessments/prizes-global-health-technologies |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20121107025448/http://healthresearchpolicy.org/assessments/prizes-global-health-technologies |title=Prizes for Global Health Technologies |work=Global Health R&D Policy Assessment Center |author=Wilson, P.; Palriwala, A. |publisher=Results for Development Institute |date=2011 |archivedate=07 November 2012 |accessdate=25 April 2013}}</ref>), scientific games (FoldIt<ref name="GoodGames11">{{cite journal |title=Games with a scientific purpose |journal=Genome Biology |author=Good, B.M.; Su, A.I. |volume=12 |issue=12 |pages=135 |year=2011 |doi=10.1186/gb-2011-12-12-135 |pmid=22204700 |pmcid=PMC3334605}}</ref>), and licensing schemes inspired by open-source software (BIOS<ref name="JeffersonScience06">{{cite journal |title=Science as social enterprise: The CAMBIA BiOS Initiative |journal=Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization |author=Jefferson, R. |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=13–44 |year=2006 |doi=10.1162/itgg.2006.1.4.13}}</ref>).
Many approaches to open science and collaborative R&D have been tried.<ref name="NielsenReinventing11" /><ref name="EkinsCollab11">{{cite book |title=Collaborative Computational Technologies for Biomedical Research |editor=Ekins, S.; Hupcey, M.A.Z.; Williams, A.J. |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc |pages=576 |year=2011 |isbn=9780470638033}}</ref> The Gene Wiki has created over 10,000 Wikipedia articles, and aims to provide one for every notable human gene.<ref name="GoodTheGene12">{{cite journal |title=The Gene Wiki in 2011: Community intelligence applied to human gene annotation |journal=Nucleic Acids Research |author=Good, B.M.; Clarke, E.L.; de Alfaro, L.; Su, A.I. |volume=40 |issue=D1 |pages=D1255-61 |year=2012 |doi=10.1093/nar/gkr925 |pmid=22075991 |pmc=PMC3245148}}</ref> The crowdsourcing platform InnoCentive has reportedly facilitated solutions to roughly half of the thousands of technical problems posed on the site, including many in life sciences such as the $1 million ALS Biomarker Prize.<ref name="BinghamTheOpen11">{{cite book |title=The Open Innovation Marketplace: Creating Value in the Challenge Driven Enterprise |author=Bingham, A.; Spradlin, D. |publisher=FT Press |pages=272 |year=2011 |isbn=9780132311830}}</ref> Other examples include prizes (X-Prize<ref name="WilsonPrizes11Arch">{{cite web |url=http://healthresearchpolicy.org/assessments/prizes-global-health-technologies |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20121107025448/http://healthresearchpolicy.org/assessments/prizes-global-health-technologies |title=Prizes for Global Health Technologies |work=Global Health R&D Policy Assessment Center |author=Wilson, P.; Palriwala, A. |publisher=Results for Development Institute |date=2011 |archivedate=07 November 2012 |accessdate=25 April 2013}}</ref>), scientific games (FoldIt<ref name="GoodGames11">{{cite journal |title=Games with a scientific purpose |journal=Genome Biology |author=Good, B.M.; Su, A.I. |volume=12 |issue=12 |pages=135 |year=2011 |doi=10.1186/gb-2011-12-12-135 |pmid=22204700 |pmcid=PMC3334605}}</ref>), and licensing schemes inspired by open-source software (BIOS<ref name="JeffersonScience06">{{cite journal |title=Science as social enterprise: The CAMBIA BiOS Initiative |journal=Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization |author=Jefferson, R. |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=13–44 |year=2006 |doi=10.1162/itgg.2006.1.4.13}}</ref>).


Collaborative R&D approaches vary in openness.<ref name="PLOSHowOpen13">{{cite web |url=https://www.plos.org/how-open-is-it |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20130301193758/http://www.plos.org/about/open-access/howopenisit/ |title=HowOpenIsIt? |publisher=Public Library of Science |date=2013 |archivedate=01 March 2013 |accessdate=25 April 2013}}</ref> In some approaches, the R&D process and outputs are open to all — for example, open-science projects like the Gene Wiki described above. In other approaches which demonstrate what might be called controlled collaboration, there are strong controls on who contributes and benefits — for example, computational platforms like Collaborative Drug Discovery or InnoCentive that support both commercial and nonprofit research.<ref name="EkinsCollab11" /><ref name="BinghamTheOpen11" />
Collaborative R&D approaches vary in openness.<ref name="PLOSHowOpen13Arch">{{cite web |url=https://www.plos.org/how-open-is-it |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20130301193758/http://www.plos.org/about/open-access/howopenisit/ |title=HowOpenIsIt? |publisher=Public Library of Science |date=2013 |archivedate=01 March 2013 |accessdate=25 April 2013}}</ref> In some approaches, the R&D process and outputs are open to all — for example, open-science projects like the Gene Wiki described above. In other approaches which demonstrate what might be called controlled collaboration, there are strong controls on who contributes and benefits — for example, computational platforms like Collaborative Drug Discovery or InnoCentive that support both commercial and nonprofit research.<ref name="EkinsCollab11" /><ref name="BinghamTheOpen11" />


Collaborative approaches can unleash innovation from unforeseen sources, as with crowdsourcing health technologies.<ref name="BinghamTheOpen11" /><ref name="WilsonPrizes11Arch" /><ref name="GoodGames11" /><ref name="VashishtCrowd12">{{cite journal |title=Crowd sourcing a new paradigm for interactome driven drug target identification in ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' |journal=PLOS One |author=Vashisht, R.; Mondal, A.K.; Jain, A. et al. |volume=7 |issue=7 |pages=e39808 |year=2012 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0039808 |pmid=22808064 |pmc=PMC3395720}}</ref> They may help in global challenges like drug development<ref name="MunosHowTo11">{{cite journal |title=How to revive breakthrough innovation in the pharmaceutical industry |journal=Science Translational Medicine |author=Munos, B.H.; Chin, W.W. |volume=3 |issue=89 |pages=89cm16 |year=2011 |doi=10.1126/scitranslmed.3002273 |pmid=21715677}}</ref>, as with India's OSDD (Open Source Drug Discovery) project that recruited over 7,000 volunteers<ref name="VashishtCrowd12" /> and an open-source drug synthesis project that improved an existing drug without increasing its cost.<ref name="WoelfleResolution11">{{cite journal |title=Resolution of praziquantel |journal=PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |author=Woelfle, M.; Seerden, J.P.; de Gooijer, J. et al. |volume=5 |issue=9 |pages=e1260 |year=2011 |doi=10.1371/journal.pntd.0001260 |pmid=21949890 |pmc=PMC3176743}}</ref>
Collaborative approaches can unleash innovation from unforeseen sources, as with crowdsourcing health technologies.<ref name="BinghamTheOpen11" /><ref name="WilsonPrizes11Arch" /><ref name="GoodGames11" /><ref name="VashishtCrowd12">{{cite journal |title=Crowd sourcing a new paradigm for interactome driven drug target identification in ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' |journal=PLOS One |author=Vashisht, R.; Mondal, A.K.; Jain, A. et al. |volume=7 |issue=7 |pages=e39808 |year=2012 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0039808 |pmid=22808064 |pmc=PMC3395720}}</ref> They may help in global challenges like drug development<ref name="MunosHowTo11">{{cite journal |title=How to revive breakthrough innovation in the pharmaceutical industry |journal=Science Translational Medicine |author=Munos, B.H.; Chin, W.W. |volume=3 |issue=89 |pages=89cm16 |year=2011 |doi=10.1126/scitranslmed.3002273 |pmid=21715677}}</ref>, as with India's OSDD (Open Source Drug Discovery) project that recruited over 7,000 volunteers<ref name="VashishtCrowd12" /> and an open-source drug synthesis project that improved an existing drug without increasing its cost.<ref name="WoelfleResolution11">{{cite journal |title=Resolution of praziquantel |journal=PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |author=Woelfle, M.; Seerden, J.P.; de Gooijer, J. et al. |volume=5 |issue=9 |pages=e1260 |year=2011 |doi=10.1371/journal.pntd.0001260 |pmid=21949890 |pmc=PMC3176743}}</ref>
Line 42: Line 42:


==Rule 1: Get the incentives right - Learn from the past==
==Rule 1: Get the incentives right - Learn from the past==
Why should contributors take part in your project? Learn from incentives that have worked in mass collaborations and open-source software, such as reputation building, enjoyment, cooperatively solving interesting problems that are too hard to do alone, and jointly developing tools that benefit all developers.<ref name="PrlićTen12" /><ref name="FogelProducing13" /><ref name="BenklerThePenguin11">{{cite book |title=The Penguin and the Leviathan: How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest |author=Benkler, Y. |publisher=Crown Business |pages=272 |year=2011 |isbn=9780385525763}}</ref> Organizational incentives can include lowering costs, tapping external innovation, implementing novel business models such as selling complementary services, and jointly competing for public admiration or grant funding. Altruism can motivate collaboration, but frequently it is not the main reason.<ref name="EkinsCollab11" /> With this in mind, align individual incentives with collective benefit.<ref name="NielsenReinventing11" /> Look to past and present precompetitive collaborations for ways to address intellectual property and competitive concerns.<ref name="IoMEstablishing11" /> Share attribution with contributors so they can advance their goals and demonstrate their capabilities.


==Rule 2: Make your controlled collaborations win-win-win==
Perhaps completely open science seems unsuitable to you, if for example you are engaged in market-driven R&D that must recoup investments. There are ways to benefit from open science and collaborative methods while retaining appropriate controls and the opportunity to provide public benefit. You, your partners, and the public can all benefit — a win-win-win situation. You might use computational platforms to supercharge information sharing with selected partners, including public-benefit initiatives that match your mission.<ref name="EkinsCollab11" /> You might use crowdsourcing to overcome roadblocks by opening up chosen parts of your R&D process to new innovators.<ref name="BinghamTheOpen11" /> Or you might make public selected data or software tools, exporting them to the open-source realm to gain from goodwill or quality improvement.<ref name="IoMEstablishing11" /> Sharing can make both business and social sense, whether in implementing open standards, collaborating precompetitively, or reducing duplication of effort.<ref name="NormanLeveraging11">{{cite journal |title=Leveraging crowdsourcing to facilitate the discovery of new medicines |journal=Science Translational Medicine |author=Norman, T.C.; Bountra, C.; Edwards, A.M. etc. |volume=3 |issue=88 |pages=88mr1 |year=2011 |doi=10.1126/scitranslmed.3002678 |pmid=21697527}}</ref> Keep an eye open for opportunities to "do well by doing good" by structuring initiatives for private and public benefit.<ref name="KrattigerIntellectual07">{{cite book |title=Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation: A Handbook of Best Practices |volume=1 |editor=Krattiger, A.; Mahoney, R.T.; Nelsen, L. et al. |publisher=MIHR-USA |year=2007 |isbn=9781424320264}}</ref> Collaborative approaches can benefit both public and private sectors in collaborating across competitive boundaries, connecting problems with problem solvers, and cultivating a knowledge commons.<ref name="NielsenReinventing11" /><ref name="EkinsCollab11" />


==Rule 3: Understand what works — And what doesn't==
You can save yourself frustration by not using an unsuitable collaborative method, be it a wiki without an audience or a crowdsourced research challenge without focus.<ref name="RDICollab13Arch" /> Consider questions like: have you learned from others who have tried the method? Do you understand when the method fails, and what is necessary for it to work? Is there a good match between the method and your goals? Are you contributing your experiences and interesting failures back to the community, thus demonstrating thought leadership? If you are interested in more effective knowledge sharing, consider low-budget opportunities such as starting an online Q&A site about open science or collaborative R&D using a platform like StackExchange. There are also opportunities to help evaluate what really works—moving beyond anecdotal evidence to case studies and metrics.


==Rule 4: Lead as a coach, not a CEO==
The command-and-control style doesn't work well with contributors from diverse organizations, many of whom may be volunteers.<ref name="VicensTen07">{{cite journal |title=Ten simple rules for a successful collaboration |journal=PLOS Computational Biology |author=Vicens, Q.; Bourne, P.E. |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=e44 |year=2007 |doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030044 |pmid=17397252 |pmc=PMC1847992}}</ref> And as has been said of Linus Torvalds, the founder of the open-source operating system Linux, "Linus doesn't scale": leaders of mass collaborations can become bottlenecks unless they encourage distributed workflows and leadership.<ref name="FogelProducing13" /> Be flexible about management (but strict about quality). Check your ego at the door — you're playing a team game and will be stronger when others want to contribute. Participants will feel more motivated if their contribution enriches a joint resource rather than just the leader. Can you give up exclusive ownership and credit to achieve with others what you cannot achieve alone?
==Rule 5: Diversify your contributors==
A powerful aspect of collaborative R&D is the potential diversity of the community — including students<ref name="VashishtCrowd12" />, patients<ref name="WicksAccelerated11">{{cite journal |title=Accelerated clinical discovery using self-reported patient data collected online and a patient-matching algorithm |journal=Nature Biotechnology |author=Wicks, P.; Vaughan, T.E.; Massagli, M.P.; Heywood, J. |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=411-4 |year=2011 |doi=10.1038/nbt.1837 |pmid=21516084}}</ref>, gamers<ref name="GoodTheGene12" />, and researchers from lesser-known countries or institutions. You can use open science to attract diverse contributors by lowering barriers to participation, publicly tackling audacious challenges (see Rule 8), and making collaboration fun. Consider open licensing terms and joint or public ownership of selected outcomes to broaden your participant base.<ref name="JeffersonScience06" /><ref name="PLOSHowOpen13Arch" /><ref name="KrattigerIntellectual07" /><ref name="DykeDeveloping11">{{cite journal |title=Developing and implementing an institute-wide data sharing policy |journal=Genome Medicine |author=Dyke, S.O.; Hubbard, T.J. |volume=3 |issue=9 |pages=60 |year=2011 |doi=10.1186/gm276 |pmid=21955348 |pmc=PMC3239235}}</ref> Encourage all community members to find ways to contribute that suit their abilities and inclinations. Can you reach past your usual partners, and make it easy for others to get up to speed with what you're doing? Are there opportunities for "citizen science," perhaps through organizing many microcontributions?<ref name="NielsenReinventing11" /><ref name="GoodTheGene12" />
==Rule 6: Diversify your customers==
Can you engage the broadest possible base as beneficiaries? The science that you do in the open spreads its benefits widely, and that can attract unexpected accolades and collaborators.<ref name="NielsenReinventing11" /><ref name="WoelfleOpen11" /> Productively involving stakeholders can inform your research — for example, through participatory research strategies involving the people your efforts are meant to help.<ref name="HollandWho13">{{cite book |title=Who Counts?: The Power of Participatory Statistics |author=Holland, J.; Chambers, R. |publisher=Practical Action |pages=220 |year=2013 |isbn=9781853397721}}</ref> Contributing to collaborative initiatives targeting human development challenges can motivate your team, and potentially lead to innovations that are transferable to for-profit markets. Neglected disease R&D is a case in point, which seems particularly suitable for collaborative pilot projects, given its lower profits, humanitarian appeal, and need for new methods.<ref name="MasumOpen11">{{cite web |url=http://healthresearchpolicy.org/assessments/open-source-neglected-diseases-magic-bullet-or-mirage |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20130106064334/http://healthresearchpolicy.org/assessments/open-source-neglected-diseases-magic-bullet-or-mirage |title=Open Source for Neglected Diseases: Magic Bullet or Mirage? |work=Global Health R&D Policy Assessment Center |publisher=Results for Development Institute |date=2011 |archivedate=06 January 2013 |accessdate=25 April 2013}}</ref> If your work is commercially driven, consider humanitarian licensing approaches that encourage nonprofit applications by others to poorer demographics.<ref name=NRCDesigning11" /><ref name="KrattigerIntellectual07" />


==Funding==
==Funding==

Revision as of 18:38, 22 March 2017

Full article title Ten simple rules for cultivating open science and collaborative R&D
Journal PLOS Computational Biology
Author(s) Masum, Hassan; Rao, Aarthi; Good, Benjamin M.; Todd, Matthew H.; Edwards, Aled M.; Chan, Leslie; Bunin, Barry A.; Su, Andrew I.; Thomas, Zakir; Bourne, Philip E.
Author affiliation(s) Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation, Results for Development Institute, Scripps Research Institute, University of Sydney, University of Toronto, Collaborative Drug Discovery, Scripps Research Institute, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, University of California San Diego
Primary contact Email: hassan dot masum at utoronto dot ca
Year published 2013
Volume and issue 9(9)
Page(s) e1003244
DOI 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003244
ISSN 1553-7358
Distribution license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Website http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003244
Download http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003244&type=printable (PDF)

Introduction

How can we address the complexity and cost of applying science to societal challenges?

Open science and collaborative R&D may help.[1][2][3] Open science has been described as "a research accelerator."[4] Open science implies open access[5] but goes beyond it: "Imagine a connected online web of scientific knowledge that integrates and connects data, computer code, chains of scientific reasoning, descriptions of open problems, and beyond ... tightly integrated with a scientific social web that directs scientists' attention where it is most valuable, releasing enormous collaborative potential."[1]

Open science and collaborative approaches are often described as open-source, by analogy with open-source software such as the operating system Linux which powers Google and Amazon — collaboratively created software which is free to use and adapt, and popular for internet infrastructure and scientific research.[6][7] However, this use of "open source" is unclear. Some people use "open source" when a project's results are free to use, others when a project's process is highly collaborative.[4]

It is clearer to classify open source and open science within a broader class of collaborative R&D, which can be defined as scalable collaboration (usually enabled by information technology) across organizational boundaries to solve R&D challenges.[8]

Many approaches to open science and collaborative R&D have been tried.[1][9] The Gene Wiki has created over 10,000 Wikipedia articles, and aims to provide one for every notable human gene.[10] The crowdsourcing platform InnoCentive has reportedly facilitated solutions to roughly half of the thousands of technical problems posed on the site, including many in life sciences such as the $1 million ALS Biomarker Prize.[11] Other examples include prizes (X-Prize[12]), scientific games (FoldIt[13]), and licensing schemes inspired by open-source software (BIOS[14]).

Collaborative R&D approaches vary in openness.[15] In some approaches, the R&D process and outputs are open to all — for example, open-science projects like the Gene Wiki described above. In other approaches which demonstrate what might be called controlled collaboration, there are strong controls on who contributes and benefits — for example, computational platforms like Collaborative Drug Discovery or InnoCentive that support both commercial and nonprofit research.[9][11]

Collaborative approaches can unleash innovation from unforeseen sources, as with crowdsourcing health technologies.[11][12][13][16] They may help in global challenges like drug development[17], as with India's OSDD (Open Source Drug Discovery) project that recruited over 7,000 volunteers[16] and an open-source drug synthesis project that improved an existing drug without increasing its cost.[18]

If you want to apply open science and collaborative R&D, what principles are useful? We suggest 10 simple rules for cultivating open science and collaborative R&D. We also offer eight conversational interviews exploring life experiences that led to these rules (see Box 1 at end).

Rule 1: Get the incentives right - Learn from the past

Why should contributors take part in your project? Learn from incentives that have worked in mass collaborations and open-source software, such as reputation building, enjoyment, cooperatively solving interesting problems that are too hard to do alone, and jointly developing tools that benefit all developers.[6][7][19] Organizational incentives can include lowering costs, tapping external innovation, implementing novel business models such as selling complementary services, and jointly competing for public admiration or grant funding. Altruism can motivate collaboration, but frequently it is not the main reason.[9] With this in mind, align individual incentives with collective benefit.[1] Look to past and present precompetitive collaborations for ways to address intellectual property and competitive concerns.[3] Share attribution with contributors so they can advance their goals and demonstrate their capabilities.

Rule 2: Make your controlled collaborations win-win-win

Perhaps completely open science seems unsuitable to you, if for example you are engaged in market-driven R&D that must recoup investments. There are ways to benefit from open science and collaborative methods while retaining appropriate controls and the opportunity to provide public benefit. You, your partners, and the public can all benefit — a win-win-win situation. You might use computational platforms to supercharge information sharing with selected partners, including public-benefit initiatives that match your mission.[9] You might use crowdsourcing to overcome roadblocks by opening up chosen parts of your R&D process to new innovators.[11] Or you might make public selected data or software tools, exporting them to the open-source realm to gain from goodwill or quality improvement.[3] Sharing can make both business and social sense, whether in implementing open standards, collaborating precompetitively, or reducing duplication of effort.[20] Keep an eye open for opportunities to "do well by doing good" by structuring initiatives for private and public benefit.[21] Collaborative approaches can benefit both public and private sectors in collaborating across competitive boundaries, connecting problems with problem solvers, and cultivating a knowledge commons.[1][9]

Rule 3: Understand what works — And what doesn't

You can save yourself frustration by not using an unsuitable collaborative method, be it a wiki without an audience or a crowdsourced research challenge without focus.[8] Consider questions like: have you learned from others who have tried the method? Do you understand when the method fails, and what is necessary for it to work? Is there a good match between the method and your goals? Are you contributing your experiences and interesting failures back to the community, thus demonstrating thought leadership? If you are interested in more effective knowledge sharing, consider low-budget opportunities such as starting an online Q&A site about open science or collaborative R&D using a platform like StackExchange. There are also opportunities to help evaluate what really works—moving beyond anecdotal evidence to case studies and metrics.

Rule 4: Lead as a coach, not a CEO

The command-and-control style doesn't work well with contributors from diverse organizations, many of whom may be volunteers.[22] And as has been said of Linus Torvalds, the founder of the open-source operating system Linux, "Linus doesn't scale": leaders of mass collaborations can become bottlenecks unless they encourage distributed workflows and leadership.[7] Be flexible about management (but strict about quality). Check your ego at the door — you're playing a team game and will be stronger when others want to contribute. Participants will feel more motivated if their contribution enriches a joint resource rather than just the leader. Can you give up exclusive ownership and credit to achieve with others what you cannot achieve alone?

Rule 5: Diversify your contributors

A powerful aspect of collaborative R&D is the potential diversity of the community — including students[16], patients[23], gamers[10], and researchers from lesser-known countries or institutions. You can use open science to attract diverse contributors by lowering barriers to participation, publicly tackling audacious challenges (see Rule 8), and making collaboration fun. Consider open licensing terms and joint or public ownership of selected outcomes to broaden your participant base.[14][15][21][24] Encourage all community members to find ways to contribute that suit their abilities and inclinations. Can you reach past your usual partners, and make it easy for others to get up to speed with what you're doing? Are there opportunities for "citizen science," perhaps through organizing many microcontributions?[1][10]

Rule 6: Diversify your customers

Can you engage the broadest possible base as beneficiaries? The science that you do in the open spreads its benefits widely, and that can attract unexpected accolades and collaborators.[1][4] Productively involving stakeholders can inform your research — for example, through participatory research strategies involving the people your efforts are meant to help.[25] Contributing to collaborative initiatives targeting human development challenges can motivate your team, and potentially lead to innovations that are transferable to for-profit markets. Neglected disease R&D is a case in point, which seems particularly suitable for collaborative pilot projects, given its lower profits, humanitarian appeal, and need for new methods.[26] If your work is commercially driven, consider humanitarian licensing approaches that encourage nonprofit applications by others to poorer demographics.[2][21]

Funding

This article was made possible by support to HM and AR from a grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the Results for Development Institute. The funders had no role in the preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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Notes

This presentation is faithful to the original, with only a few minor changes to presentation. In some cases important information was missing from the references, and that information was added. In a few cases, the URLs from 2013 were dead; they were updated with current URLs, and, when applicable, archived URLs from the Internet Archive.