Addressing exploitation and inequities in open science: A relational perspective

Abstract

There are concerns that participation in open science will lead to various forms of exploitation – of researchers and scholars in low‐income countries and under‐resourced institutions. This article defends a contrary thesis and demonstrates the exact ways the underexplored notions of communal relationships, human dignity and social justice – and the normative principles to which they give rise – grounded in African philosophy can usefully address critical concerns regarding exploitation in the sharing of research resources to facilitate open partnership/collaboration and reuse. Further research is required to study the specific roles different institutions can play in facilitating open practice and contribute towards establishing effective structures that can enhance equity and balance unfavourable power asymmetries.

Missing a golden opportunity? An analysis of publication trends by income level in the Directory of Open Access Journals 1987–2020

“…In a report in The Scientist , a researcher states that ‘the entire concept of waiver is damaging to publishing’ because ‘it puts underprivileged researchers in a position where they have to beg to somebody in a large editorial industry’ (Manjarrez, 2021). Furthermore, concerns about exploitation and inequities in open science raise important issues about how research data and findings will be shared among international collaborators and secondary users based in HICs (Ewuoso et al, 2022).…”

Does the South African government have a duty to fund influenza vaccination of adults 65 years and older?

“…While distributive justice describes first-order duties of institutions and states to their citizens (to protect their civil liberties, distribute goods equitably and create a conducive environment for communal relationships), commutative justice describes the responsibilities of citizens to one another and the State. Notably, their responsibility to be solidary to one another and to the State ( 46 ).…”

“…Furthermore, in the scholarship of African authors who contend that a distinction ought to be made between distributive justice and social justice, it is not uncommon for one to read the following to be the core of distributive justice from that positionality; (i) it entails the responsibility of States and established organizations to honor the rights of individuals, including their health rights, (ii) to create opportunities for individuals to enjoy a deep communal relationship, which may include funding their health care since illness can undermine their to enjoy communal relationships, and finally, to regulate interactions among individuals (46). Although the main aim of this section is evaluative rather than descriptive, it is worth outlining that distributive justice in the African moral philosophy literature broadly.…”

Decolonial health literature can increase our thinking about ethics dumping

“…Whilst health research partnerships have facilitated timeous health discoveries and innovations, poor research governance structures and oversights in Low- and middle-income countries, particularly in some under-resourced African regions and institutions, imply that African scientists may be vulnerable to ethics dumping and exploitation ( 1 ) . Exploitation and ethics dumping are not uncommon in research ventures in Africa and have been reported by different studies ( 1 , 2 ) . This contribution proposes new ways of conceptualizing and tackling ethics dumping in collaborative health research ventures.…”