## A Guide to DeSci, the Latest Web3 Movement Future ### A Guide to DeSci, the Latest Web3 Movement | Future  #### Metadata * Author: [[Ants Review]] * Full Title: A Guide to DeSci, the Latest Web3 Movement | Future * Category: #articles * URL: <https://future.a16z.com/what-is-decentralized-science-aka-desci/?cmdid=ZQ3UEQS9IJ14Q4> #### Highlights * Open Science initiatives have had far-reaching effects, including mandates by the National Institutes of Health and other funding sources to publish open-access findings. But the extent to which science has improved as a result is a matter of debate. For example, journals responded to these mandates with pay-to-publish business models. Now, instead of paying to read other people's studies, publicly funded scientists pay to publish their own research. (Nature charges over $11,000 per paper.) Some academics have argued that open access mandates increasingly concentrate power in the hands of major publisher * The resulting DeSci landscape is a mix of loosely connected DAOs. Some target specific aspects of scientific research, such as funding, peer review, access, incentives, and pace. Others focus on specific fields. Biotech is in the lead, with DAOs including Molecule, VitaDAO, PsyDAO, Phage Directory, LabDAO and SCINET. Environmental science DAOs are gaining steam too. Beyond DAOs, individual scientists are experimenting with blockchain by launching their own research tokens. * Smart contracts: While scientists perform peer review for free, the academic publishing industry extracts enormous profits from the process by acting as an intermediary. Ants Review has shown how smart contracts could instead mediate directly between authors and peer reviewers, who would be rewarded with tokens for their review. * Verifiable reputation: Currently, scientists' reputations — and as a result their ability to secure funding — are tied to publishing metrics. With blockchain technology, scientists could earn NFTs for doing other activities that research communities deem valuable, such as peer review, training and mentoring, and sharing data openly. NFT collections could act as a verifiable digital reputation for contributions, further incentivizing such behaviors. Scientists and groups of individuals with a shared wallet, such as a decentralized lab, could build reputation this way. # A Guide to DeSci, the Latest Web3 Movement | Future  ## Metadata - Author: [[Ants Review]] - Full Title: A Guide to DeSci, the Latest Web3 Movement | Future - Category: #articles - URL: https://future.a16z.com/what-is-decentralized-science-aka-desci/?cmdid=ZQ3UEQS9IJ14Q4 ## Highlights - Open Science initiatives have had far-reaching effects, including mandates by the National Institutes of Health and other funding sources to publish open-access findings. But the extent to which science has improved as a result is a matter of debate. For example, journals responded to these mandates with pay-to-publish business models. Now, instead of paying to read other people’s studies, publicly funded scientists pay to publish their own research. (Nature charges over $11,000 per paper.) Some academics have argued that open access mandates increasingly concentrate power in the hands of major publisher - The resulting DeSci landscape is a mix of loosely connected DAOs. Some target specific aspects of scientific research, such as funding, peer review, access, incentives, and pace. Others focus on specific fields. Biotech is in the lead, with DAOs including Molecule, VitaDAO, PsyDAO, Phage Directory, LabDAO and SCINET. Environmental science DAOs are gaining steam too. Beyond DAOs, individual scientists are experimenting with blockchain by launching their own research tokens. - Smart contracts: While scientists perform peer review for free, the academic publishing industry extracts enormous profits from the process by acting as an intermediary. Ants Review has shown how smart contracts could instead mediate directly between authors and peer reviewers, who would be rewarded with tokens for their review. - Verifiable reputation: Currently, scientists’ reputations — and as a result their ability to secure funding — are tied to publishing metrics. With blockchain technology, scientists could earn NFTs for doing other activities that research communities deem valuable, such as peer review, training and mentoring, and sharing data openly. NFT collections could act as a verifiable digital reputation for contributions, further incentivizing such behaviors. Scientists and groups of individuals with a shared wallet, such as a decentralized lab, could build reputation this way.