Towards a New Ethosof Scienceor a Reformofthe Institutionof Science?

Source: Novation, Critical study of innovation

ABSTRACTIn this article, I will explore how the underlying research values of ‘openness’ and ‘mutual responsiveness’,whicharecentraltoopensciencepractices,canbeintegratedintoanewethosofscience.Firstly,IwillrevisitRobertMerton'searlycontributiontothisissue,examiningwhetherthe ethos of science should be understood as a set of norms for scientists to practice ‘good’science or as a set of research values as a functional requirement of the scientific system to produceknowledge,irrespectiveofindividualadherencetothesenorms.Secondly,Iwillanalysethe recent codification of scientific practice in terms of ‘scientific integrity’, a framework that Mertondidnotpursue.Basedonthisanalysis,andillustratedonthecaseofCOVID-19asacasein which the institution of science was challenged to deliver urgently on societal desirable outcomes, I will argue that promoting open science and its core norms of collaboration and opennessrequiresbroadergovernanceoftheinstitutionofscienceinitsrelationshipwithsocietyatlarge,ratherthanrelyingsolelyonself-governancewithinthescientificcommunitythroughanew ethos of science. This conclusion has implications for re-evaluating research assessments, suggesting that the evaluation of the scientific system should take precedence over evaluating individual researchers, and that incentives should be provided to encourage specific research behaviour rather than solely focusing on individual research outputs.