Paper short abstract:

This paper introduces Open Science approaches and stakeholders in Japan with a special focus on the Research Center for Open Science of the National Institute for Informatics in Tokyo and its activities for the creation of knowledge commons in the digital space.

Paper long abstract:

The digital transformation has profound effects on the way the economic sectors function, society is organized, and information is managed in contemporary Japan. Recent technological achievements open up new possibilities and freedoms in the digital space, but they are also accompanied by increasing processes of enclosures in the form of intellectual property rights and through the monopolization of a few information infrastructure technology providers. Private sector control even extends to vital areas such as patents on pharmaceuticals, seeds and genetic codes or the collection of sensitive information on consumers and users of digital applications.

On the other hand, new technological possibilities also strengthen counter-movements such as the "Open Science" movement and its quest for creating new commons of knowledge in the digital space by providing open access to academic publications, opening up, publicising and debating academic research with a broader community of scholars and citizen science experts alike.

This paper introduces Open Science approaches and stakeholders in Japan with a special focus on the Research Center for Open Science (RCOS) of the National Institute for Informatics (NII) in Tokyo and its activities to open up academic knowledge in Japan - from publications to research data, research software, research processes and citizen science projects.

By discussing examples from the fields of agriculture and cultural heritage it gives insights into the chances and challenges of digitization processes, research data management and open data community building. Furthermore, it asks about the responsibility of libraries and researchers for the creation of knowledge commons in the physical as well as the digital space.