Open Science Perceptions Across Career Stages: Comparing Early-Career and Senior Croatian Researchers in a European Context

presentation × thursday × 14.00-15.30

Una Pale Simon

University of Zurich
Switzerland

Udruga Penkala
Croatia

Maja Hoić

Institute for Development and International Relations, University North, Udruga Penkala
Croatia

Inga Patarčić

Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine
Berlin, Germany

Udruga Penkala
Croatia

Ksenija Baždarić

University of Rijeka, Udruga ZNAK
Croatia

Ivan Buljan

University of Split, Croatian Reproducibility and Integrity Network
Croatia

Antica Čulina

Ruđer Bošković Institute
Croatia

Ana Marušić

University of Split, Croatian Reproducibility and Integrity Network
Croatia

Jadranka Stojanovski

University of Zadar
Croatia

Open Science (OS) is an approach to scientific research and communication that promises greater transparency, reproducibility, accessibility and even research quality. However, despite growing international momentum toward OS practices, there remains a significant knowledge gap regarding their adoption and perception within the Croatian scientific community, particularly among early-career researchers. While previous studies have examined certain aspects of OS in Croatia, such as the 2021 survey by Baždarić et al. (Baždarić et al., 2021) which explored attitudes toward open data, preprints, and open peer review, and the 2024 survey by Macan et al. (Macan et al., 2024) which focused on publishing in open access, comprehensive research focusing on the broader spectrum of OS practices across different career stages has been lacking.

Our cross-sectional observational survey aimed to address this gap by investigating the knowledge, perception, and adoption of OS practices among researchers in Croatia, with special attention to early-career scientists (students, doctoral candidates, and postdoctoral researchers) who have been underrepresented in previous studies. The survey was structured into six distinct sections: (1) demographic information, (2) general perceptions about OS, (3) publishing in open access, (4) peer review processes, (5) scientific data, and (6) science communication and education. While the first two sections were mandatory, participants could choose to complete any combination of the remaining four sections, allowing for flexibility in participation while ensuring comprehensive coverage of OS dimensions. A detailed preregistration of the study, including goals, scope, methodology, and general concept, is available on the Open Science Framework (Hoić et al., 2024).

The survey was distributed through multiple channels, including institutional networks, scientific associations, social media platforms, and direct outreach to researchers, targeting both those based in Croatia and Croatian researchers working abroad. This approach ensured representation across various scientific disciplines, institutional types, geographical regions, and career stages, with a focused effort to engage doctoral students, who ultimately formed the largest respondent group. By March 2025, we had collected 449 valid responses, with doctoral candidates and students accounting for 72% of the total.

In this presentation, we will share key findings regarding Croatian researchers’ perceptions of OS and its core components. We will present differences in self-assessed knowledge, perceived advantages and disadvantages of various OS segments, and attitudes toward the evaluation and recognition of OS contributions. We will highlight variations in OS knowledge, attitude, challenges and implementation practices of open access, peer review and open data, across career stages and institutional settings, focusing on comparing early-career researchers (students and doctoral candidates) with more established scientists. In particular, we will compare differences in perspectives related to specific open practices that have the potential to enhance the quality of research – such as preregistration, the use of preprints, and open data sharing and management.

Furthermore, a recent study conducted through the Eurodoc network of associations representing early-career researchers and doctoral candidates in Europe (Berezko et al., 2021), surveyed researchers across Europe but failed to adequately represent the Croatian academic context, with only one Croatian respondent. By comparing our findings with those of the Eurodoc study and other European studies (Morais et al., 2021), we aim to situate the Croatian experience within the broader European research landscape, identifying both shared challenges and unique national characteristics influencing OS adoption. This comparative perspective can provide valuable insights for developing Croatia-specific strategies while aligning with European OS initiatives.

Based on these insights we will try to highlight actionable recommendations targeting different stakeholders that could further support the adoption of OS practices in Croatia, particularly among early-career researchers.

keywords

Croatia; early-career researchers; European context; open science; research practices, survey

References

Baždarić, K., Vrkić, I., Arh, E., Mavrinac, M., Marković, M. G., Bilić-Zulle, L., Stojanovski, J., & Malički, M. (2021). Attitudes and practices of open data, preprinting, and peer-review— A cross sectional study on Croatian scientists. PLOS ONE, 16(6), e0244529. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244529

Macan, B., Škorić, L., Petrak, J. (2024). Otvorenost, ali pod koju cijenu – stavovi i praksa hrvatskih autora. https://doi.org/10.15255/KUI.2023.023

Berezko, O., Medina, L. M. P., Malaguarnera, G., Almeida, I., Żyra, A., Seang, S., Björnmalm, M., Hnatkova, E., & Tata, M. (2021). Perspectives on Open Science and Scholarly Publishing: A Survey Study Focusing on Early Career Researchers in Europe (10:1306). F1000Research. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.74831.1

Hoić, M., Pale, U., Patarcic, I., Stojanovski, J., Buljan, I., Marusic, A., & Culina, A. (2024). Survey on perception and practices of open science in Croatia. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/PM6SX

Morais, R., Saenen, B., Garbuglia, F., Berghmans, S., & Gaillard, V. (2021). From principles to practices: Open Science at Europe’s universities 2020-2021 EUA Open Science Survey results. https://www.eua.eu/publications/reports/from-principles-to-practices-open- science-at-europe-s-universities-2020-2021-eua-open-science-survey-results.html

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