Author: David C, Bankless; Compiler: Tao Zhu, Golden Finance

Decentralized Science (DeSci) is a new method of scientific research using blockchain, making research more open and Clear and accessible.

In the traditional scientific system known as "TradSci", a central agency manages research. Examples of these institutions include universities, institutions and private companies. While this system has brought tremendous progress, it has also created barriers to progress. These barriers include high costs of research and publication, limited access to knowledge, and slow collaboration.

DeSci, on the other hand, focuses on open science—a movement that believes all knowledge should be freely available. By using tools like decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), smart contracts, and tokens, DeSci helps scientists take charge of how research is funded, completed, and shared. It supports global collaboration, encourages open source data sharing, and removes gatekeepers that limit access to scientific discoveries.

In this system, researchers have more ways to fund their projects. They can publish their findings on open access platforms or tokenize their intellectual property to gain greater support or additional revenue. Overall, the goal is to build a more inclusive and transparent world for scientific research.

What problem does DeSci solve?

There are several problems with traditional scientific research methods, and DeSci hopes to solve these problems. These problems not only slow down the progress of scientific research but also limit who can contribute to and benefit from it.

Lack of Funding

In TradSci, only a small number of researchers receive funding for their work.

Large research institutions devote most of their funding to hot topics, leaving smaller but equally important research unfunded. Many researchers struggle to move their findings from the laboratory into real-world solutions that help people, a challenge often referred to as the "Valley of Death." This bottleneck limits the impact of valuable ideas.

Barriers to Access

Most scientific research remains behind journal paywalls, meaning only those with access or money can read it. This limits the widespread sharing of knowledge and slows collaboration. For many people, even accessing past research can be a significant challenge.

Lack of transparency and trust

Scientific findings are sometimes criticized because they are difficult to repeat or prove. This "reproducibility crisis" occurs when researchers have little, if any, reason to check each other's work or share their raw data. Funding and publication decisions are also often made in secret, which can bias research results.

Inefficient collaboration

Scientists often work alone because the industry is so competitive that the success of one team often comes at the expense of the success of another. This has resulted in researchers, institutions and theirData secrecy slows progress and makes it harder to solve big problems like climate change or medical breakthroughs.

How does DeSci use blockchain?

DeSci uses blockchain technology and open source tools to solve these problems in traditional science. By distributing systems and making information more accessible, DeSci can make scientific research faster, fairer, and more reliable. Here's how it can contribute.

Decentralized Funding

DeSci does not rely on institutions or institutions to provide funding. Instead, it uses a platform run by decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and tokens.

These systems allow researchers to raise funds directly from communities around the world. For example, some projects use secondary financing, such as Gitcoin. This approach focuses on providing larger funding to projects that receive many small donations, rather than just a few large donations. This ensures that everyone in the scientific community has a voice on funded projects.

Open Access and Data Sharing

The permanence of blockchains means they can make scientific research secure and immutable. This makes it easier for anyone to access the research and check its accuracy. In addition, through distributed databases, researchers can publish their research results on open science platforms that anyone can read for free. Using blockchain also enables global data sharing, allowing scientists to collaborate across borders by securely sharing raw data sets and findings.

Transparent and fair peer review

The peer review process is critical to ensuring research quality, but is often opaque in TradSci. In DeSci, the blockchain can track and reward reviewers’ contributions, ensuring that reviews are fair and trustworthy. Smart contracts can even manage the peer review process, making it transparent and open to the entire scientific community.

Tokenization of Research

One of the most exciting features of DeSci is the ability to tokenize intellectual property. Researchers can create NFTs to represent ownership of their discoveries. These tokens can be used by other researchers to create additional revenue streams, or traded to create new funding opportunities. For example, a researcher might set a funding target based on a token's market cap. This way, projects will only move forward if they receive sufficient funding. Overall, this system puts more control in the hands of scientists and their supporters.

Solving the “Reproducibility Crisis”

As mentioned earlier, a “reproducibility crisis” occurs when scientists are unable to repeat an experiment and get the same results, making the research difficult to trust. DeSci solves this problem by rewarding scientists who double-check their experiments and prove their results are accurate. Using blockchain technology, researchers can maintain clear records to show that their work was correct, making scientific research more trustworthy.

DeSci Platform

The goal of Decentralized Science (DeSci) is not just to rethink how science is done; it also builds practical tools to transform key aspects of the research process. These platformsAims to solve specific challenges such as funding, publishing and conducting research by introducing decentralized, blockchain-based solutions, all of which play a vital role in making scientific research more open, collaborative and efficient .

Financing Platform

Securing research funding for innovative projects is difficult. The DeSci platform alleviates this problem by connecting researchers with supporters, leveraging DAOs and blockchain to make funding fairer and more accessible. Here are some platforms focused on financing transformation.

Publishing Platform

As mentioned earlier, scientific research is often locked behind paywalls. Distributed scientific publishing platform leverages blockchain to provide open, secure access, enhance transparency and collaboration. Here are some of the most popular projects:

Research Platforms

Using tools such as ip-nft and dao, blockchain-based research institutes can be created New ways to share and manage discoveries while ensuring transparency. Here are the main groups specializing in different studies: