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From the perspective of an author submitting a paper, the peer-review seems like another dragon to slay on the way to publish your work in a scientific journal. The peer-review is a service that we, as scientists, provide for journal editors to help decide whether work is suitable for publication in their journal. The early peer-review attempts took place at the beginning of the 18th century. Yet the peer-review was not widely adopted by the scientific community until the mid-20th century, and many iconic papers, including the ones on the structure of the DNA, were not peer-reviewed (Baldwin, 2015).

The C. elegans community has always emphasized the need for open science and collaboration. The field already has comprehensive reference pages and curated databases for scientists including Wormbook, Wormatlas and Wormbase. And scientists have been continuously sharing their worm strains through the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center (CGC) which maintains and distributes the strains all over the world.

When I was at the 22nd International C. elegans meeting, I was again reminded of the extent that C. elegans researchers embrace open science and share resources and tools. That message was fully exemplified in Cori Bargmann’s keynote speech and in the workshops on CRISPR techniques and new tools for conditional expression and degradation. These workshops not only highlighted new tools but also included time for questions and a group discussion on the best strategies and protocols for different experiments. 

Biotechnology is no longer just for those working in academia or industry. At BosLab, we identify ourselves as part of a network of independent Do-it-Yourself (DIY) biology laboratories working towards enabling everyone to participate in the biotech revolution. Our lab exists in what appears to be a funky old garage, but looks can be deceiving. Step into this building and you will find a bike kitchen on the first floor and upstairs you will find our fully-equipped laboratory for citizen scientists. In addition to maintaining a laboratory to support both individual and community science projects, we offer classes, workshops, book clubs, seminars, and social events.

The following post was contributed by Derek Jacoby from Makerspace Victoria, CA

Over the decades science has become increasingly restricted to academic and industrial labs, but recently there has been a counter movement by the public to access basic equipment and to become involved in developing tools and solutions to research problems. This movement calls itself the Open Science movement and is part of a bigger movement in a variety of research sectors to provide open source technologies and spaces where interested parties can do research. This interest manifested itself in the creation of Hackerspaces and Makerspaces back in 2007, which function as centres for peer learning and knowledge sharing, in the form of workshops, presentations, and lectures. There are currently around 1,000 active makerspaces around the world. Hackerspaces.org maintains a list of active spaces near you.

It should come as no surprise that those of us at Addgene believe in the power of sharing, and especially in keeping the products of science accessible in one way or another to those who might be in a position to build on that work. That’s how science progresses after all, with each generation of scientists standing on the shoulders of their colleagues and all those who’ve gone before them. Given this interest in the ways science is shared and in making it easier to share, we take special note as the open science movement continues to gain traction.

One way to consider where the open access (OA) movement might be going is to consider some of the places it’s been. So, as 2013 comes to a close, let’s take a few minutes to reflect on some of the most noteworthy developments in open science this year. Here it goes, in no particular order, my top 10 open science developments, 2013 edition.