[ENG] Exploring the future of science. Student perspectives

Dear open science enthusiast, dear research intrepid, dear authors and reviewers, dear course participants, dear supporters and critics, dear team members and alumni,  

Dear reader, 

What if?  
Who has not asked this question? It is a question that builds on knowledge about the status quo and expands it to something new. It starts with what is and sets out to what can be. It dares to ask audacious questions. 

Two years ago, we asked ourselves What if students were part of advancing and shaping science from early on in their careers?  – Berlin Exchange Medicine, now the Student Network for Open Science, was born.  

We regard the student space that we operate in as a privilege of having the freedom to put the if’s into practice rather than barely asking questions about them.  

As students, we are the future of science! We are the ones who will be shaping the research agenda of tomorrow, and it is our passion and dedication that will drive the progress of science in the years to come. 

Two years later, we have collected hundreds of if-questions. You will find some of the corresponding answers in this first issue.
What if we involve students in peer review? (#published peer reviews)
What if we provide students with the ideas they need to rethink scientific publishing more transparently, fair, and interdisciplinary? (#Open Science position paper) What if we share our data and codes to make research reproducible? (#open data & code paper)
What if we do not only take information from published papers but learn from them? (#R courses for published papers)
… 

Great ideas for the future of scientific publishing as the core of collaborative science have been existing for a while. We want to acknowledge all the great minds and projects that supported us along the way and that we joined on the road into the future of science. We see ourselves as part of a global Open Science movement, considerably shaped by early career researchers.  

We are excited about publishing as a way to distribute science but more so to communicate ideas and learn together. Will you come along? 

We hope that you will enjoy reading this first issue and that it will inspire you to explore the world and future of science – from a student perspective. We look forward to seeing your contributions in future issues. 

Thank you for joining us on this exciting journey, 

Amelya, Dario, Felix, and Anne