''Open science infrastructure'' is a form of knowledge infrastructure that makes it possible to create, publish and maintain open scientific outputs such as publication, data or software.
TheA [[Unesco]] recommendation ofabout Open[[open Sciencescience]] approved in November 2021 definedefines open science infrastructures as "shared research infrastructures that are needed to support open science and serve the needs of different communities".{{sfn|UNESCO|2021}} TheA SPARC{{what|date=April 2025}} report on European Openopen Sciencescience Infrastructureinfrastructure includeincludes the following activities within the range of open science infrastructures: "We define Open Access & Open Science Infrastructure as sets of services, protocols, standards and software contributing to the research lifecycle – from collaboration and experimentation through data collection and storage, data organization, data analysis and computation, authorship, submission, review and annotation, copyediting, publishing, archiving, citation, discovery and more".{{sfn|Ficarra et al.|2020|p=7}}
===Infrastructure===
The use of the term "infrastructure" is an explicit reference to the physical infrastructures and networks such as power grids, road networks or telecommunications that made it possible to run complex economic and social system after the industrial revolution: "The term infrastructure has been used since the 1920s to refer collectively to the roads, power grids, telephone systems, bridges, rail lines, and similar public works that are required for an industrial economy to function (…...) If infrastructure is required for an industrial economy, then we could say that cyberinfrastructure is required for a knowledge economy".{{sfn|Atkins|2003|p=5}} The concept of infrastructure was notably extended in 1996 to forms of computer-mediated knowledge production by [[Susan Leigh Star]] and [[Karen Ruhleder]], through an empirical observation of an early form of open science infrastructure, the Worm Community System.{{sfn|Star|Ruhleder|1996}} This definition has remained influential through the next two decades in [[science and technology studies]]{{sfn|Karasti et al. I|2016|p=4}} and has affected the policy debate over the building of scientific infrastructure since the early 2000s{{sfn|Atkins|2003|p=5}}
Open science infrastructure have specific properties that contrast them with other forms of open science projects or initiatives:
