Open science in Biomedical and Health Sciences: trends and practices reflected in scientific production in the Dimensions database

Abstract

Objective: This research aims to characterize how the main research trends and open science practices are being reflected in the scientific production of Biomedical and Health sciences worldwide, as well as to explore the intellectual and social structure of the domain in terms of the agents involved and their relationships.

Method: This is an exploratory and descriptive study that uses relational bibliometric techniques, Social Network Analysis, and thematic analysis. The Dimensions database was used as the data source. Production indicators were identified, and three relational analyses were conducted: title word co-occurrence, bibliographic coupling of authors, and document co-citation. Network maps were created using the VOSviewer software.

Results: Scientific production shows a growing trend. Although the Dimensions database was chosen for its potential diversity of sources, the most productive and highly cited authors are predominantly from North America and Europe. The main topics discussed include transparency, openness, reproducibility, and data sharing in connection with open science. Research trends related to the evaluation and monitoring of open science practices in institutions or research areas, as well as the assessment of adherence to transparency practices and data sharing guidelines in journals, were identified. Among the most influential works are the PRISMA guidelines, articles on the reproducibility of science, and discussions on the benefits and challenges of open science. Key practices identified among the authors of the corpus include the predominant publication of articles in gold open access journals and preprints. Another important practice noted in the article abstracts is the pre-registration of study protocols on Open Science Framework platform.

Conclusions: The research conducted in the domain is consistent with general trends aimed at changing the research culture, promoting greater transparency and the sharing of all components of the research cycle. A gradual and growing adoption of study protocol registration and data sharing on open platforms is observed, along with publication in open access journals and preprints.