The Center for Open Science envisions a future scholarly community in which the process, content, and outcomes of research are openly accessible by default:

• All scholarly content is preserved, connected, and versioned to foster discovery, accumulation of evidence, and respect for uncertainty.
• Scholarly service providers monetize and compete on quality of service rather than by controlling access to content.
• Institutions evaluate researchers based on both the content of their discoveries and the process by which they were discovered, not on where those results are published.
• Funders have full insight into the returns on their research investments for prioritizing future investments.
• Researchers prioritize getting it right over getting it published, and will receive credit for scholarly contributions beyond the research article such as generating useful data or authoring code that can be reused by others.
• Reviewers provide feedback at all stages of the research lifecycle and get credit and reputation enhancement for reviewing.
• Librarians apply curation and data management expertise throughout the research lifecycle, not just retrospectively.
• Consumers have direct access to review and primary evidence for scholarly claims.
• All stakeholders are included and respected in the research lifecycle and share pursuit of truth as the primary incentive and motivation for scholarship.

For COS to achieve its mission, it must drive change in the culture and incentives that drive researchers’ behavior, the infrastructure that supports their research, and the business models that dominate scholarly communication.

This culture change requires simultaneous movement by funders, institutions, researchers, and service providers across national and disciplinary boundaries. Despite this, the vision is achievable because openness, integrity, and reproducibility are shared values; the technological capacity is available; and alternative sustainable business models exist.

COS maintains a philosophy that envisions a scientific utopia for research communication and research practices.