Haves and have nots must find a better way: The case for open scientific hardware

Many efforts are making science more open and accessible; they are mostly concentrated on issues that appear before and after experiments are performed: open access journals, open databases, and many other tools to increase reproducibility of science and access to information. However, these initiatives do not promote access to scientific equipment necessary for experiments. Mostly due to monetary constraints, equipment availability has always been uneven around the globe, affecting predominantly low-income countries and institutions. Here, a case is made for the use of free open source hardware in research and education, including countries and institutions where funds were never the biggest problem.In 2013 Eve Marder raised concerns about research equipment availability and the divide between well-funded and poorly-funded labs. Five years later, with the issue still present, this Perspective article discusses a possible solution: the wide adoption of Open Source Hardware, not only to reduce the divide, but also to make research and education more robust, reliable and widespread.