Decentralized Science: A New Paradigm for Research and Development Part One
Are you in the science field and sometimes thought that you would have enjoyed your time in science more if certain things happened? Or maybe you’re not even a scientist and you’re wondering if the science field can be revolutionized by technology. Blockchain technology to be precise.
Well, you’re right. Blockchain technology can transform science, which can even make scientists enjoy their careers better. In this article, we at DeSci Africa will be showing you what decentralized science is, and why Science needs Decentralization.
But first of all, let’s quickly describe the term, scientific research.
Scientific research is carried out to advance science by the methodical gathering, analysis, and evaluation of data — and that, too, in a planned manner. If you’ve done something like this, then we can gladly call you a researcher. The outcome of any scientific research is either a piece of entirely new knowledge or modified existing knowledge.
Now that you have a glimpse of what scientific research is about, let’s discuss decentralized science.
What is Decentralized Science (DeSci)?
You can’t talk about decentralization without talking about Web3. In fact, that’s the main purpose of Web3. So let’s brief you on the definitions of Web1, Web2, and Web3.
Let’s use examples to drive home the point of what is in the image. When you only read content on the internet without permission to write comments or even react to it with some emojis, that’s Web1. As a user on social media where you can read other people’s content, react and comment on them, and even write your posts, that’s Web2.
Now sit tight so you don’t get confused with what we’re about to say about Web3. Still in this social media example, if you can read other people’s content, write your content and then go further to be part of the pool of users to permit the publishing of social media content by other people, that’s Web3.
Currently, you can use social media because the owners of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. allow you to have an account. If your account is blocked by them, then you cease to have access to social media. But in Web3, it doesn’t happen that way. No centralized entity is responsible for your access. Instead, you, alongside other users own and are empowered to make decisions regarding social media.
This is where decentralization happens. The owners of Facebook, Twitter, etc. are a centralized authority. But since you could make decisions with other users in Web3, it changes the authority from centralization to decentralization.
So finally what is Decentralized Science?
Decentralized Science is the use of Blockchain and Web3 tools to stop the handling of scientific processes by centralized entities, like research organizations and government, while improving the process of publishing, funding, and contribution to the research works of other members.
See Decentralized Science as the solution to having a distributed publication system where there’s transparency in peer review, funding and publication, where all stakeholders (researchers and reviewers) are rewarded for their contributions to science. This can be implemented using Web3 tools like smart contracts, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), and Non-Fungible Tokens(NFTs).
Blockchain is an integral part of decentralized science where all of its benefits are utilized by DeSci platforms, including the absence of intermediaries, transparency through a public ledger, trustlessness, smart contracts, and the potential for instantaneous digital asset transactions.
Why is Decentralized Science Important?
In traditional science, there’s this strict control over publishing where some scientific publications are known to be more prestigious than others and unfortunately these prestigious publications charge a huge fee of about $11,000 per research paper. These publications also limit access to works published because people (both researchers and non-researchers) still have to pay entry fees.
Also, there’s the system of funding which doesn’t equally favour everyone where your chances of getting funded largely depend on the number of research works you’ve published or the likelihood of your research making it to the headlines. Sometimes, funding also happens due to favouritism based on who you know. This greatly affects the quality of research studies and even the replicability of results.
These are just very few challenges in traditional science compared to the bulk of challenges stated here.
Decentralized Science will transform the way traditional science works by not restricting the publishing of articles to prestigious publications anymore. Every researcher can now publish their work without paying a dime. Rather, they get rewarded for publishing good works. Emphasis on “good” because it’s possible that implementing DeSci without rules could heighten the publication of mediocre works.
You might say that Open Science is already solving this problem so what is the need for DeSci?
Well, you thought wrong. Although DeSci seems like a repetitive solution to the Open Science solution, DeSci stands out in a lot of ways because of the technologies it utilizes.
Yes, Open Science is a movement to make scientific knowledge easily accessible by utilizing preprint servers that publish articles without peer review, such as arXiv. But this mere feature even births more problems, especially the problem of lengthening the long list of research papers with poor quality.
The good thing is, DeSci doesn’t just solve the problem of limited access to scientific knowledge. It’s also the hero that will stab the “partial funding” villain directly in the heart.
Funding is granted to worthy researchers and this is not based on how many research papers you own but based on the quality of the research. This encourages researchers to put out quality works to increase their chances of getting funded.
DeSci is not just limited to these. At every challenge in traditional science that sneaks up its head to torment researchers, DeSci tackles it to the ground and ensures it vanishes without a trace.
Wow! you’ve come this far to understand the concept of DeSci.
But your journey is not yet complete. In our next article, we’ll be treating the fields DeSci can be implemented and the benefits of DeSci. Till we meet again🙃
