The social and scientific research world often seems far removed from technological advances. However, they are the first to be interested in how technology can make their work better and easier, which consists of researching and disseminating their knowledge to as many people as possible.

This is not as idyllic as it sounds. Giving talks and conferences, publishing, and even researching are more complex than most people imagine. These difficulties have led a group of scientists and blockchain activists to think of a new way of sharing scientific knowledge: decentralized science or DeSci.

Woman experimenting in the laboratory — Foto de Julia Koblitz en Unsplash

Science research problems

To understand in detail why this new trend of the blockchain is developing, we must understand the difficulties the scientific world faces when obtaining the necessary financing to research and publish.

One of the biggest problems in scientific research is the diffusion of knowledge, whether in the scientific or social sciences. Researchers are conditioned to publish their work in a few limited media, creating a culture of prestige in which big names have more visibility than younger or inexperienced researchers.

This prestige culture has also made publications in scientific journals an essential condition for obtaining jobs and being considered for research funding by any public or private entity. Unfortunately, for this reason, it takes many researchers a long time, even years, to grow in their work or get the money to carry out their research.

Similarly, researchers waste a lot of time writing proposals to get funding from universities, labs, and private or public organizations. Due to long and complicated bureaucracy, bids can take a lot of time to be answered. In many cases, they end up shelved since contacts, the prestige system, or simply favoritism cause the proposals of a well-known researcher to be chosen over those of others, even if they could be better or more relevant. As a consequence, some significant research will never be done.

On the other hand, we have an issue with access to publications and research. The fact that a research paper is published does not guarantee that it will be read. Usually, these publications are made in research journals or specialized magazines that are challenging to obtain and for which the subscription costs a lot of money. Only a few researchers can afford to pay a monthly subscription. In some cases, institutions such as universities and libraries have old issues of magazines, but they are only sometimes up to date.

To make matters worse, these "well-known science magazines" care little about the informative part. Some authors asked journals to allow public access to their publications, and journals accepted. Still, if they couldn't charge users, they would charge researchers and institutions, so if a researcher or a university wants a publication made by them to have public access, they must pay large sums of money; otherwise, the journal will withdraw the publication.

But not everything is negative. There are ways in which the public can access scientific papers for free on pages like Research Gate or Academia.com. These pages allow researchers in the human and exact sciences to publish short papers up to entire books. The only limitation is usually materials with rights, such as edited books or indexed magazine articles. You typically must redirect yourself to a link where you have to pay or ask the author directly. Although they are good options, they are not a permanent solution to the problem.

DeSci, the solution to the problem

Blockchain enthusiasts and scientists have devised a system to decentralize science in all its aspects to solve all the problems we discussed in the previous section. Not only will they seek that the papers reach all who need them, but they will also seek to democratize and facilitate access to funds, making the processes more transparent.

This idea has been given the name DeSci or Decentralized Science, and it is based on using Web 3.0 technologies to decentralize science. This is fairer for researchers and ordinary people who will be able to access all the information on research processes, results, etc.

DeSci makes use of all the advances that have been made in the decentralized economy and uses the same technology. Still, instead of making economic transactions without needing a third party, it eliminates the third parties that dominate the scientific world and maintains the prestige system.

DeSci uses several essential principles of web 3.0, such as DAOs, NFTs, or smart contracts to enhance scientific funding; unleash knowledge from ghettos; eliminate reliance on profit-hungry intermediaries such as publishers, and increase collaboration across scientific fields.

public demonstration of people who support scientific experimentation — Foto de Vlad Tchompalov en Unsplash

Advantages of the science of the decentralized system

DeSci is in the middle of two trends, one scientific and the other web 3.0. The first is efforts within the scientific community to change how research is funded and knowledge is shared. The second is efforts within the crypto movement to move property and value away from intermediaries, regardless of industry.

Financing

This is probably the most complicated pain point science has today.

Success in obtaining funding to carry out research is linked to metrics such as the h-index, which quantifies the impact of a scientist's published work. (Impact not in terms of real utility, but media). The resulting pressure to "publish or perish" incentivizes the search for novel and "salable" research over work critical to humanity but less likely to make it into the headlines.

In this case, DAOs, Cryptos, crowdfunding, and other fundraising methodologies could be excellent solutions for researchers to finance their work. In this case, the funds will come from natural persons or DAOs interested in the specific topic of the investigation, so the prestige system to access the funds would be eliminated.

Likewise, smart contracts would play a fundamental role in controlling the delivery of stimuli, thus eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy and releasing funds whenever conditions arise, allowing a smooth development of research work.

Access to information

Access to information is another problem that science has. Although science is said to be the epitome of global public good, the reality is that a great deal of scientific knowledge is trapped inside paid journals and private databases. Making all kinds of information more accessible is one of the cornerstones of movements such as Open Science, which emerged more than a decade ago, and is now one of the critical objectives of Decentralized Science.

In this case, the blockchain can be used to share information, and thanks to its immutability, the authenticity of the documents and the copyright of the investigations can be protected.

Man looking for a book in a library — Foto de Devon Divine en Unsplash

Examples of the DeSci movement

Since 2015, some scientific initiatives based on the blockchain began to appear, but they were isolated ideas, the movement was only established in 2021, and these initiatives merged thanks to an explosion of new projects.

One of the most important events was the first sale of Open Science NFT for 13 ETH; the rise of research groups that auction off NFTs, the growth of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and the initiation of open discussions with the Blockchain community on the aspirations of decentralization of science.

Currently, we have a series of loosely connected DAOs in which each focuses on something different. Many of these DAOs are concerned with practical issues such as scientific research, funding, peer review, access, and incentives, among others, while others of these organizations. In addition, they focus on specific fields of scientific endeavor: biotechnology, environmental sciences, and neurosciences.

Similarly, scientists are experimenting with blockchain by launching their own tokens to finance their research. In general, DeSci's efforts range from purely theoretical ideas and small-scale experiments to more established players funding university research.

Challenges to overcome

Like all the great projects and trends brewing with web 3.0 enthusiasts, Decentralized Science still has a couple of challenges to overcome to prove that it is a viable way of doing science and cutting the intermediaries out of the web. Different fields of research. Here are some of them.

Scientific quality:

A good question is whether non-scientists can distinguish high-quality projects. To solve this, solid reputation and governance systems have been designed where, for example, verified scientists could shortlist grant applications for voting by the wider community.

Another solution is making use of bridges between DeSci and traditional science. This could also help with quality assessment. For example, traditional funders might give the go-ahead to high-quality projects they cannot finance themselves.

The DAOs would also benefit from the design of said governance systems since there may be extreme cases, such as a community made up of many anti-vaxxers, which can delay or completely stop scientific research in this field, putting at risk lives around the world.

Diverse participation:

Currently, crypto enthusiasts are the people who are driving these changes the most. Therefore, DeSci communities are made up of people already involved in cryptography and science. Largely white men often dominate these fields, so women or people of other races are underrepresented.

Imbalances of gender, race, or sexual orientation have real consequences. For example, women's health has historically been under-researched, and diseases mainly affecting Black or Latino communities have fewer research funds.

This demonstrates a real need for the people who participate in decision-making to be a diverse group that represents the reality of society and its needs.

Prioritize end goals:

DeSci is a movement experimenting with new technological tools to improve science.

For this movement to be successful, these tools need to fade into the background and go unnoticed in scientists' daily work.

Unfortunately, the focus is currently being placed more on web 3.0 tools than on the ultimate goal of democratizing the work of researchers.

That is why it is essential to train scientists to do good science and to ensure, through robust user research, that the focus is on research and its results and not on these new technological tools.

Man raising his hand among a group of people — Foto de Felicia Buitenwerf en Unsplash

Conclusions

As with many web 3.0 trends, there is a lot of hype surrounding the future of decentralized science.

In theory, it sounds perfect and maybe a proper solution to many current problems that science and scientific research have.

However, we must remember that web 3.0 is still far from full adoption by society and that it will take a long time before we see the results of many of these ideas and theories fully put into practice.

Likewise, we must remember that science is medical and technological research, and the human sciences, biology, botany, etc., are part of this investigative conglomerate. Currently, the focus of DeSci is the medical and technological sciences. If that focus is not opened, we will not achieve the actual progress of science to a common good and a genuinely democratic field of knowledge, but we will turn it into an ochlocracy where only the interests of a branch of utilitarian science are served.

Finally, if your goal is to create a DAO to finance scientific projects or research, and you need help figuring out where to start, contact us. You can schedule a free pre-consultation to understand what your needs are and what is the road map that you must follow in order to enter the world of decentralized Science.

DeSci, the blockchain working for the decentralization of scientific research