Open science is playing an increasingly important role in modern research, supporting transparency, reproducibility, and the responsible use of AI. This free, three-part webinar series will explore the practices, tools, and trends shaping the future of scientific communication.
The adoption of open science practices in chemistry continues to grow. As stark illustrations, the proportion of open access content published year-to-date across all ACS Publications journals stands at 29%, up from 27% in 2025 and 25% in 2024. Preprints are also growing in popularity via ChemRxiv (the preprint server for chemistry, supported by ACS and four other national chemistry societies), which is now home to almost 40,000 preprints since opening for submissions in 2017. ACS Publications also recently launched ACS Chemistry Databank to enable easy sharing of chemistry data with citable DOIs. ACS Chemistry Databank initially supports authors publishing in Organic Letters, with other ACS Publications journals to follow.
Open science practices are important for research transparency and can aid reproducibility. At the same time as these have grown, we've seen the advent of widespread artificial intelligence (AI) which is intertwined with open science. AI has a wide variety of applications, but many of these rely heavily on training with vast quantities of information; openly shared data, code, and research are used in machine learning, which in turn enables researchers to analyze, validate, and reproduce scientific findings. These applications include molecular discovery, prediction of protein structures, and automation of experiments.
Open science in can present a complex and daunting landscape, especially for those in the early stages of their career. To help you navigate many of the key topics in open science, ACS Publications is hosting Open Science Made Simple, a series of three webinars this fall, offering a combination of practical advice and expert commentary. Each of the hour-long webinars is free to register and attend — find out more and register below.