---
title: "Science 2.0"
chunk: 1/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_2.0"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:50:15.406926+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Science 2.0 is a suggested new approach to science that uses information-sharing and collaboration made possible by network technologies. It is similar to the open research and open science movements and is inspired by Web 2.0 technologies. Science 2.0 stresses the benefits of increased collaboration between scientists. Science 2.0 uses collaborative tools like wikis, blogs and video journals to share findings, raw data and "nascent theories" online. Science 2.0 benefits from openness and sharing, regarding papers and research ideas and partial solutions.
A general view is that Science 2.0 is gaining traction with websites beginning to proliferate, yet at the same time there is considerable resistance within the scientific community about aspects of the transition as well as discussion about what, exactly, the term means. There are several views that there is a "sea change" happening in the status quo of scientific publishing, and substantive change regarding how scientists share research data. There is considerable discussion in the scientific community about whether scientists should embrace the model and exactly how Science 2.0 might work, as well as several reports that many scientists are slow to embrace collaborative methods and are somewhat "inhibited and slow to adopt a lot of online tools."

== Definitions ==

The term has many meanings and continues to evolve in scientific parlance. It not only describes what is currently happening in science, but describes a direction in which proponents believe science should move towards, as well as a growing number of websites which promote free scientific collaboration.

The term Science 2.0 suggests a contrast between traditional ways of doing science, often denoted Science 1.0, with more collaborative approaches, and suggests that the new forms of science will work with Web 2.0 technologies. One description from Science is that Science 2.0 uses the "networking power of the internet to tackle problems with multiple interacting variables - the problems, in other words, of everyday life." A different and somewhat controversial view is that of Ben Shneiderman, who suggested that Science 2.0 combines hypothesis-based inquiries with social science methods, partially for the purpose of improving those new networks.
While the term describes websites for sharing scientific knowledge, it also includes efforts by existing science publishers to embrace new digital tools, such as offering areas for discussions following published online articles. Sometimes it denotes open access which, according to one view, means that the author continues to hold the copyright but that others can read it and use it for reasonable purposes, provided that the attribution is maintained. Most online scientific literature is behind paywalls, meaning that a person can find the title of an article on Google but they can not read the actual article. People who can access these articles are generally affiliated with a university or secondary school or library or other educational institution, or who pay on a per-article or subscription basis.

Traditional scientific journals are part of this social evolution too, innovating ways to engage scientists online and enable global collaboration and conversation. Even the 187-year-old Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences has joined the digital age. The Academy now permits free public access to selected online content and has digitized every volume dating back to 1823.
One view is that Science 2.0 should include an effort by scientists to offer papers in non-technical language, as a way of reaching out to non-scientists. For others, it includes building vast databases of case histories. There is a sense in which Science 2.0 indicates a general direction for scientific collaboration, although there is little clarity about how exactly this might happen. One aim is to "make scientific collaboration as easy as sharing videos of trips home from the dentist," according to one view.
Closely related terms are "cyberscience" focussing on scientists communicating in the cyberspace and "cyberscience 2.0" expanding the notion to the emerging trend of academics using Web 2.0 tools.

== History and background ==
The rise of the Internet has transformed many activities such as retailing and information searching. In journalism, Internet technologies such as blogging, tagging and social networking have caused many existing media sources such as newspapers to "adopt whole new ways of thinking and operating," according to a report in Scientific American in 2008. The idea is that while the Internet has transformed many aspects of life, it has not changed scientific research as much as it could. While firms such as eBay, Amazon and Netflix have changed consumer retailing, and online patient-centered medical data has enabled better health care, Science 2.0 advocate Ben Shneiderman said:

It's time for researchers in science to take network collaboration like this to the next phase and reap the potential intellectual and societal payoffs.
According to one view, a similar web-inspired transformation that has happened to other areas is now happening to science. The general view is that science has been slower than other areas to embrace the web technology, but that it is beginning to catch up.