Speaker
Description
Over the past decade, open science has moved from the margins to the mainstream. Yet for many researchers, putting open science into practice remains challenging — due to disciplinary norms, fragmented support systems, and tools that prioritize policy over usability. At Springer Nature, we ar evolving our approach to open science support by embedding FAIR principles into product design and workflows, making open practices easier, more attractive, and more aligned with researchers' day-to-day needs. We are committed to ensuring researchers can do this in a safe and secure way.
This session will present a set of practical interventions developed to support researchers in sharing data and adopting open practices. These tools have been shaped by ongoing user research and iterative development cycles, ensuring they meet real needs rather than just compliance goals. We will share examples of how we’ve shifted from a policy-driven to a researcher-centred mindset, with solutions that guide users through complexity, offer meaningful feedback, and demonstrate value through social proof and community engagement.
A core evidence base informing this work is The State of Open Data project, in partnership with Figshare and Digital Science, that is the longest running survey and analysis on open data. Celebrating the State of Open Data’s tenth year in 2025,this year’s report will introduce a deeper focus on disciplinary trends and feature new expert commentary on what’s next for open science — insights that we will preview and build upon in this session. Drawing on longitudinal survey data from tens of thousands of researchers globally, The State of Open Data has revealed not only enduring challenges in data sharing, but also shifting attitudes and emerging norms, with growing discipline-specific differences.
By combining fresh findings from the newest The State of Open Data survey with practical case studies from our ongoing initiatives, this presentation offers both a reflection on progress and a look ahead. It will highlight what it takes to make responsible and reproducible science not just possible, but preferable, through support that researchers actively choose to use.
