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I understand that open science is based on open data, open access, open source, open methodology, etc.

However, what does "open" exactly mean in context when we talk about "open science"?

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"Transparent"

If I had to condense the meaning of open in open science to a single word, it would be transparent.

The primary purpose of having open source software, accessible data, open access publishing, permissive licensing, and all of the other things we associate with open science, is to "open up" the scientific process as much as possible: allowing and enabling free and anonymous scrutiny of research outputs and the process that produced them, and for the repurposing of those outputs and processes for new research.

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    Hmm, it's common courtesy in StackExchange communities to provide a comment when you downvote someone's answer.
    – Daniel Standage
    Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 18:46
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    (Hard to know what the down-voter objected to...) Indeed, in addition to, or to make feasible, transparency and accessibility, economic barriers have to be removed or mitigated so that people not lucky enough to be "on the inside" in (e.g.) a U.S. university (with MathSciNet access, and so on) can have a fair chance. For-profit publishers who add ever-less value are obvious candidates... and so on. Economic issues loom large.
    – paul garrett
    Commented Aug 23, 2015 at 19:18

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