Learn About Decentralized Science (DeSci)

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9 Jan 2024

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The science or science sector is an important sector that contributes to all industries in the world. However, the science sector also has its own problems. The concept of Decentralized Science is an effort to create an alternative system for the science sector. Desci wants to integrate various blockchain technologies into the science sector. First of all, what is decentralized science? What are the benefits of Desci? We will discuss it in full.

Article Summary

⚛️ Decentralized science is a movement that uses blockchain technology to support a fairer and more open scientific process, including the funding, authorship, review, storage and dissemination of scientific knowledge.
❓ Some of the problems of the modern science sector are centralized funding, publishing oligopoly, limited access to research, and the replication crisis in scientific research.
⚙️ DeSci offers a solution to the funding problem through DAO and Gitcoin, facilitating incentives for higher quality peer review , and open access to scientific research through the use of blockchain technology.
🧠 Some examples of applications of DeSci are DAO-based projects such as VitaDAO, innovative platforms such as Molecule and Bio.xyz for scientific research, and the Research Hub Foundation which facilitates decentralized peer review.

What is Decentralized Science?

Desci or Decentralized Science is a movement to fund, create, review, store and disseminate scientific knowledge fairly and equitably using blockchain technology . Essentially, DeSci leverages the power of Web3 and blockchain technology for a more open science ecosystem.

Desci itself is a continuation of a trend within the scientific community that wants to change the way science is funded and disseminated. Desci's main idea is that scientific knowledge should be accessible to everyone and the process should be transparent. So, the decentralization and transparency features of blockchain make it an appropriate technology for creating alternative science systems.

Desci actually continues the Open Science movement which has existed since the 1600s. The Open Science movement is still ongoing and developing slowly . Decentralized science is an alternative movement to Open Science that takes a different method.

Some Problems in the Scientific Research Sector

The process of publishing scientific research. Source: Messari.

The Desci movement did not appear suddenly without context. On the contrary, Desci emerged as a response to problems in the scientific knowledge sector. Some of the main problems in the science sector are centralized funding, monopoly of the publishing system, limited access, and the replication crisis.

First, Centralized Funding. The scientific knowledge sector relies heavily on funding from third parties. This funding usually comes from the government or large companies that have certain interests.

This centralized funding system is prone to producing biased research and forcing researchers to adapt to what the funders need. Experimental research that does not meet needs will be difficult to obtain funding.

The second problem is related to the existence of a publishing oligopoly. The majority of high-quality research is published by publishing companies such as Nature, SAGE, and Springer. These companies control the research publishing market and charge publishing fees of up to thousands of US dollars.

Publishing oligopoly is also directly related to the third problem, namely limited access . Once again, good quality research is very difficult for ordinary readers to access. You usually need to pay tens of dollars to be able to read journals with a 24 hour access limit or a subscription system that costs hundreds of dollars.

Finally, the replication crisis is a major problem in the scientific research sector. Many scientific studies are very difficult and can hardly be reproduced to test the results. In fact, the original researcher may not be able to recreate the research that has been done. Funding difficulties also exacerbate the replication crisis because this type of research is not prioritized.

Potential Benefits of DeSci for the Scientific Sector

1. Solving Funding Issues Using DAO and Gitcoin

Blockchain has the potential to solve the problem of difficulty in obtaining funding for scientific research. The funding process that was usually determined by a few experts is now an open process that anyone can participate in. Apart from that, the research team can also take advantage of various types of funding on the blockchain.

The method of raising funds using Gitcoin is one of the most popular in the crypto industry. As proof, a survey of the impact of Gitcoin funding on the Desci project in September 2022 shows a positive signal.

Apart from Gitcoin, one of the Desci project fundraising methods that is already popular is the use of a DAO system that is suitable for the research sector. This segmentation increases the project's chances of getting funding because it will only compete with projects in the same sector.

IP-NFT technology is also an innovation to ensure the sustainability of a research or project. Every scientific research can produce intellectual property (IP) that can be traded and used in collaboration.

2. Incentivized Peer Review

The peer review process (review by fellow researchers) usually has no incentives. Blockchain and crypto technology can create an incentive system for a peer review process. Incentive mechanisms can ensure the quality of scientific research and encourage a good peer review process.

The peer review system on the blockchain can be made transparent with a reputation system as a means of measuring the quality of the research produced. Then, incentives can be given in the form of tokens , whether ETH or certain project tokens.

3. Open Access to Scientific Research

The blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem strongly encourages data openness and transparency. Many well-known projects in the crypto world have code that can be freely accessed and used by the development team ( open-source) . Open-source systems can open access to scientific journals and data resulting from various scientific research.

Access to data is a crucial initial stage for starting research. So, opening access to data will help give birth to various new research. Blockchain technology can become an ecosystem that provides legal openness of scientific data.

Several Implementations of Decentralized Science

Decentralized science ecosystem. Source: William Fang Medium.

1. DAO Based Decentralized Science Project

DAO-based blockchain projects are the most popular implementations of DeSci. As in the image above, there are already dozens of DAO projects created with the aim of scientific research. The majority of DeSci DAO projects have specific goals and sectors.

Some of the most popular DAOs are AthenaDAO for women's health research, PsyDAO for psychotropic research, and VitaDAO which researches human longevity.

Among all DAO projects, VitaDAO stands out because it managed to fund 20 scientific research projects totaling more than $4 million dollars . VitaDAO also successfully collaborated with Pfizer and the University of Copenhagen. VitaDAO also has various initiatives such as the publication of The Longevist journal.

In addition, like DAO, VitaDAO has VITA tokens. The main function of the VITA token is a governance token to determine the utilization of funds and select funding for research projects.

2. Molecule and Bio.xyz

Molecule Ecosystem and Bio.xyz. Source: Molecule.

Molecule and Bio.xyz are the two largest protocols in the decentralized science sector. Not only that, both of them contributed greatly to generating innovation in this sector and became a platform for other DeSci projects.

Molecule is a protocol that innovated by creating IP-NFT, an NFT to protect the intellectual property rights of decentralized scientific research projects. Each research project will mint IP-NFTs that have various uses.

If the research project requires additional funding, IP-NFT can be used to mint IPT or IP Tokens that anyone can buy. IP Token owners can determine the direction of IP-NFT commercialization of a research project.

Molecule and Bio.xyz are two protocols that work closely together. Both house several DAOs including VitaDAO, AthenaDAO, ValleyDAO, HairDAO, and CryoDAO. Bio.xyz plays an important role as a *launchpad * for each DAO token. The latest token launched on Bio.xyz is AthenaDAO's ATH which managed to raise $316 thousand USDC.

3. Research Hub Foundation

Research Hub Foundation is a decentralized science protocol that wants to create the first decentralized peer review ecosystem. The Research Hub Foundation platform has RSC tokens as rewards for researchers who carry out peer reviews. However, every researcher must go through a verification process before they can carry out analysis of a study.

Several researchers from large institutions such as the University of York have published their RHF research for review by other researchers. Researchers who need peer review can deposit their journals at RHF and provide incentives to get quality reviews.

The Research Hub Foundation is an initial iteration of decentralized peer review and this platform can now be used. Apart from that, the appearance of the Research Hub Foundation is similar to the Reddit platform so it is easy to use.

Conclusion

This article explores the concept of Decentralized Science (DeSci), a movement that wants to utilize blockchain technology to address various issues in the science sector. Some of the problems of modern science are centralized funding, publishing oligopoly, limited access to research, and the replication crisis. DeSci, rooted in the Open Science movement , offers solutions through decentralized funding, incentivized peer review , and open access to scientific research. Some prominent implementations of DeSci include DAO-based projects, the Molecule and Bio.xyz protocols, and the Research Hub Foundation that seeks decentralized peer review.