Course description

Open science is changing how research is done, shared, and judged. This course introduces its main pillars — open access, FAIR data, reproducibility and preprints — and the global movement to assess research more fairly than by metrics alone. It is the natural capstone of the Research Impact track.

Who it is for

Researchers, postgraduates, librarians and research managers who want the big picture of open, responsible research.

Learning outcomes

By the end you will be able to:

• Explain what open science is and why it matters;
• Apply the FAIR principles to research outputs;
• Describe how preprints and open practices improve reproducibility;
• Summarise responsible research-assessment reform (DORA, Leiden, CoARA);
• Recognise open-science practices you can adopt yourself.

Course outline

1. What Is Open Science?
2. FAIR Data Principles
3. Reproducibility & Preprints
4. Responsible Research Assessment
5. Open Science in Practice

How to study

Work through the topics in order. Each has a short lesson, a worked example, a free resource, and a hands-on “Try it” step. The course is free and open — no fees, no barriers.

Licensing & attribution

Provided free by FRELIP under CC BY 4.0; adapted in part from openly-licensed UNESCO and institutional materials.

Maintained by the FRELIP Open Courseware editorial team.