Rethinking Eurocentrism in Open Science

At present, open science is often viewed as an initiative originating in the Global North that requires contextualisation for the Global South. It appears unidirectional once more, despite the fact that communities in the Global South have a rich heritage of developing systems for knowledge creation and sharing prior to colonial times. There is also resistance to open science, stemming from historical exploitation of knowledge in these regions during colonial periods. Within the current system, knowledge from the South (somehow) requires validation by Western rankings and Western journals.

The current reward system, deeply rooted in Western norms, disadvantages institutions globally, particularly those in the South - maintaining a cycle dominated by Western publications and capitalist ideologies, which dictate what is deemed as 'valid' scientific knowledge. Such a system not only restricts academic liberty but also hampers the wider societal and educational contributions that universities ought to provide. Addressing Eurocentrism and the need for delinking in rethinking assessments of and incentives for researchers to engage in Open Science is important.

The South would not be able to catch up in such a capitalist context, because of the system’s inherent polarization. Open science should be a critical opportunity to fundamentally rethink, re-envision, and transform the role, foundations, and public good orientation of science itself. This talk will describe how the underlying scientific method itself has evolved but has been overly constrained and shaped by a Western colonial framing for centuries. It will also examine what we mean by decolonisation beyond the admission of non-western texts into reading lists?

This talk was presented in OpenFest Online Symposium 2024: Towards an Open Research Culture