Visions and Infrastructures of Open Science
Doktorsavhandling, 2026
Open Science practices are shaping both science and policymaking. This thesis examines the visions of Open Science and their enactments through four empirical cases. It provides an understanding of what Open Science means in terms of infrastructures: in cases where Open Science practices exhibit infrastructuring efforts, where they reconfigure existing infrastructures, or where such infrastructuring efforts are not sustained.
In this thesis, the overarching visions of Open Science are identified as participation, public benefit, and transparency, and these visions are interpreted in relation to the erosion of public trust in science, the commercialisation of science, and the replication crisis. Alongside the emergence of these crises, new digital sharing technologies have led to the positioning of Open Science practices, such as open-source software, Citizen Science, and Open Data, as imagined and prescribed solutions to these crises.
Building on this framework, this thesis has four main objectives, each pursued through a case study with its own set of methods: first, it examines infrastructuring efforts in a cluster of published articles to investigate how transparency is prescribed as a solution to the replication crisis through a mixed-methods approach. Second, it examines the limitations of participatory knowledge-making initiatives situated outside science by comparing four citizen observatories through interviews. Third, through retrospective participant observation and document analysis, it addresses policymakers’ visions of participation in Tehran and their efforts to improve digital participatory tools. Lastly, it investigates what a public good Open Science might entail by studying the use of open-source tools in a water infrastructure through ethnographic visits and interviews.
This thesis concludes that Open Science practitioners and advocates, aim to enact reform in science and policy through the implementation of Open Science practices. However, relying on technical approaches will not address the changes they aim to achieve. Furthermore, infrastructures play a critical role in enabling or constraining Open Science visions.
In this thesis, the overarching visions of Open Science are identified as participation, public benefit, and transparency, and these visions are interpreted in relation to the erosion of public trust in science, the commercialisation of science, and the replication crisis. Alongside the emergence of these crises, new digital sharing technologies have led to the positioning of Open Science practices, such as open-source software, Citizen Science, and Open Data, as imagined and prescribed solutions to these crises.
Building on this framework, this thesis has four main objectives, each pursued through a case study with its own set of methods: first, it examines infrastructuring efforts in a cluster of published articles to investigate how transparency is prescribed as a solution to the replication crisis through a mixed-methods approach. Second, it examines the limitations of participatory knowledge-making initiatives situated outside science by comparing four citizen observatories through interviews. Third, through retrospective participant observation and document analysis, it addresses policymakers’ visions of participation in Tehran and their efforts to improve digital participatory tools. Lastly, it investigates what a public good Open Science might entail by studying the use of open-source tools in a water infrastructure through ethnographic visits and interviews.
This thesis concludes that Open Science practitioners and advocates, aim to enact reform in science and policy through the implementation of Open Science practices. However, relying on technical approaches will not address the changes they aim to achieve. Furthermore, infrastructures play a critical role in enabling or constraining Open Science visions.
citizen science
open data
infrastructure
open science
open-source
participation
Vasa B, Vasa Hus 2, Vera Sandbergs Allé 8 SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
Opponent: Professor Minna Ruckenstein, University of Helsinki, Finland
Författare
Parissa Mokhtabad Amrei
Chalmers, Teknikens ekonomi och organisation, Science, Technology and Society 00
I. Open Science as an Infrastructure Solution to the Replication Crisis, by Parissa Mokhtabad Amrei and Catharina Landström. Revised and resubmitted to Minerva following peer review
II. Citizen Science without Scientific Infrastructures: Temporal Vulnerabilities of Environmental Citizen Observatories, by Parissa Mokhtabad Amrei. Revised and resubmitted to Science as Culture following peer review.
III. Failing to Facilitate the Flow of a Public Infrastructure: A Policymakers’ Story of Reporting Tools in Tehran, by Parissa Mokhtabad Amrei. Revised and submitted to Big Data & Society following peer review.
IV. Reviving Public Good through Infrastructure: The Case of Open-Source Tools in a Water Infrastructure, by Parissa Mokhtabad Amrei. Submitted to Journal of the Association for Information Systems.
Infrastructuring Open Science
Open Science is increasingly shaping both scientific research and policymaking. It is often presented as a response to major challenges in science, including declining public trust, the commercialisation of research, and the replication crisis. Practices such as Open Data, Citizen Science, and open-source tools, enabled by digital sharing technologies, aim to reform science and policymaking through transparency, participation, and public benefit. But how are these visions realised, and do they contribute to change in ways that address these challenges?
This thesis examines Open Science through four case studies in science and policymaking. It explores how Open Science practices are perceived and implemented, how they interact with existing infrastructures, and why some initiatives succeed while others fail. The studies include Open Science efforts in behavioural science, citizen observatories, digital participation tools and Open Data in Tehran, and the use of open-source tools in water infrastructure.
The cases show that Open Science initiatives face challenges when they rely mainly on technical or bureaucratic solutions. One of the most important challenges is that many initiatives risk becoming short-lived, while the changes they aim to create do not endure. The thesis highlights the critical role of infrastructures in enabling or constraining Open Science visions and shaping whether they can persist over time.
Open Science is increasingly shaping both scientific research and policymaking. It is often presented as a response to major challenges in science, including declining public trust, the commercialisation of research, and the replication crisis. Practices such as Open Data, Citizen Science, and open-source tools, enabled by digital sharing technologies, aim to reform science and policymaking through transparency, participation, and public benefit. But how are these visions realised, and do they contribute to change in ways that address these challenges?
This thesis examines Open Science through four case studies in science and policymaking. It explores how Open Science practices are perceived and implemented, how they interact with existing infrastructures, and why some initiatives succeed while others fail. The studies include Open Science efforts in behavioural science, citizen observatories, digital participation tools and Open Data in Tehran, and the use of open-source tools in water infrastructure.
The cases show that Open Science initiatives face challenges when they rely mainly on technical or bureaucratic solutions. One of the most important challenges is that many initiatives risk becoming short-lived, while the changes they aim to create do not endure. The thesis highlights the critical role of infrastructures in enabling or constraining Open Science visions and shaping whether they can persist over time.
Ämneskategorier (SSIF 2025)
Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik med samhällsvetenskaplig inriktning
Annan samhällsvetenskap
Biblioteks-och informationsvetenskap
Sociologi
Styrkeområden
Informations- och kommunikationsteknik
DOI
10.63959/chalmers.dt/5893
ISBN
978-91-8103-436-3
Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: ISSN 0346-718X
Utgivare
Chalmers
Vasa B, Vasa Hus 2, Vera Sandbergs Allé 8 SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
Opponent: Professor Minna Ruckenstein, University of Helsinki, Finland