Scholars across disciplines increasingly hear calls for more open and
collaborative approaches to scientific research. The concept of Open
Innovation in Science (OIS) provides a framework that integrates
dispersed research efforts aiming to understand the antecedents,
contingencies, and consequences of applying open and collaborative
research practices. While the OIS framework has already been taken up
by science of science scholars, its conceptual underpinnings require
further specification. In this essay, we critically examine the OIS concept
and bring to light two key aspects: 1) how OIS builds upon Open
Innovation (OI) research by adopting its attention to boundary-crossing
knowledge flows and by adapting other concepts developed and
researched in OI to the science context as exemplified by two OIS cases
in the area of research funding; 2) how OIS conceptualises knowledge
flows across boundaries. While OI typically focuses on well-defined
organizational boundaries, we argue that blurry and even invisible
boundaries between communities of practice may more strongly
constrain flows of knowledge related to openness and collaboration in
science. Given the uptake of this concept, this essay brings needed
clarity to the meaning of OIS, which has no particular normative
orientation toward a close coupling between science and industry. We
end by outlining the essay’s contributions to OI and the science of
science, as well as to science practitioners.