Ana María Cetto is a Mexican physicist and research professor. Last month she was named president of an international Open Science committee at UNESCO. Open science tries to make scientific information and data easier for society to use.
Cetto warns that science has been partly privatised because some publishing companies charge both to publish and to read articles. She says this practice makes it harder for many countries to access knowledge. She supports regional platforms such as Latindex that give free access to journals and wants open science to include different communities.
Difficult words
- physicist — a scientist who studies matter and energy
- research professor — a university teacher who does scientific research
- open science — making scientific data and information easier to use
- privatise — make something that was public become privateprivatised
- publish — prepare and make writing or research publicpublishing
- journal — a regular academic magazine with research articlesjournals
- platform — a website or service for sharing informationplatforms
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Do you think scientific information should be free for everyone? Why?
- Have you ever read a research article or journal? Where did you read it?
- Why might it be hard for some countries to access scientific knowledge?
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