Despite the benefits offered by open science, it has proven difficult to implement its ideals (Edwards, 2016; Nelson, 2009; Open Research Data Task Force, 2017). Recent evidence suggests that providing incentives for individual researchers to participate is the key rate-limiting step (Kidwell et al., 2016; Longo and Drazen, 2016; Fecher et al., 2015). This has stimulated many to think more deeply about how cultural factors, policies and metrics may affect the uptake of open practices by researchers (European Commission, 2017; Wilsdon, 2015; Harley, 2013; Neylon, 2017). This study builds on this work by providing insight into the perspectives of researchers in the lead up to the adoption of an open science policy within their institution. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 researchers, staff and partners, approximately one-third of the MNI's constituency, to identify their attitudes toward open science, the incentives they felt necessary to engage in open science, disincentives, the role of patients, and the eschewal of intellectual property rights. We then applied qualitative thematic content analysis to these data to identify key topics for discussion and to derive the framework for the MNI’s Open Science Policy (Figure 1).