DeSci Promises a Revolution in Science
/It can make academic publishing easier and promises more access to research funds
Science depends on openness. Scientists share their research through publication. The research is peer-reviewed to assess its accuracy and viability. Publication invites further scrutiny by a larger audience. The feedback tends to evolve research. The cycle continues.
Sadly, two problems are getting in the way of that scientific openness: 1) It’s getting harder to publish research, and 2) Competition for research funding is intensifying.
A new concept, the decentralized science movement or DeSci, promises to overcome both challenges.
The publication problem
Sharing scientific research is getting more difficult for several reasons:
First, there is a limited number of prestigious, peer-reviewed publishers of academic science, creating a bottleneck. Prestige is important because getting published in such a journal tends to attract more funding. However, since existing outlets can only publish so much, they sift through many studies to pick the handful that ultimately appear in print. That means some research goes overlooked and, as a result, never attracts the financial support it may deserve.
Second, the peer-review process can delay publication. The review process is supposed to provide scientific vetting and feedback to improve a study. However, that is not always the case. And, while the feedback can be useful, it can also delay publication by months or even years.
Third, some publishers put articles behind paywalls, effectively limiting the audience that will see the research. This is particularly ironic since much of the research is government funded, the publication does not pay any study authors and peer reviewers also are unpaid.
Fourth, many publishers have changed their business models. They now charge authors for publication. The costs vary dramatically, but it is common to pay several thousand dollars to publish a scientific study. In some cases, costs can reach tens of thousands of dollars.
Decentralizing publishing power
DeSci uses tools common to the world of cryptocurrency, including blockchain, non-fungible tokens or NFTs and smart contracts, to overcome obstacles in the research and publication process.
In a DeSci world, the approach to publication would change. Researchers would not wait for a journal’s review. They could promote their manuscripts to scientific communities that are incentivized to share, review and curate the information.
This could make possible new models of knowledge-sharing and rapid publishing and review. Authors could release preprints, manuscripts that have not been peer reviewed, to share discoveries more quickly. The release of preprints has become more common during the pandemic as researchers sought to share information as quickly as possible.
This, in turn, could promote the emergence of knowledge-sharing communities linked through social media. Imagine a less snarky version of #AcademicTwitter that could be used to raise awareness of new studies and even begin a discussion about their findings.
Changing the funding model
In science, funding is tied to reputation. Getting a study published in a prestigious journal garners more attention than getting it published elsewhere. More attention attracts more research funding. More funding typically leads to additional research and publication. The scientific community has actually defined the publishing metric that is used to assess a researcher’s productivity.
With blockchain technology, the researcher would be valued by the interest in and engagement with his or her work – and not the reputation of the outlet publishing it.
Meanwhile, a DeSci system would also reward scientists who may not publish much but still perform activities that research communities deem valuable, including peer reviewing studies, training and mentoring, and sharing data openly. Blockchain technology could reward these behaviors with NFTs that could serve as a verifiable digital reputation for an individual’s contributions.
Scientists and groups of individuals with a shared virtual wallet, such as a decentralized lab, could build reputation this way.
DeSci has attracted a fair amount of attention and discussion, but a lot of details need to be worked out. What’s clear is that the blockchain technology that is transforming other industries is poised to do the same with science. And, if it can speed the sharing of scientific breakthroughs, it’s long overdue.