Introduction from our Editor-in-Chief, Jean-Claude Burgelman

Jean Claude Burgelman, Professor of Open Science Policy at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and former Head of Unit for Open Science Policy at the European Commission

On November 21, 2021, 193 members of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted a recommendation on open science and, in the absence of the U.S., set the first international open-science framework. This is a remarkable achievement. Less than 6 years ago, when the European Commission launched its comprehensive open-science policy in 2016, the concept of open science was received primarily with skepticism in most global science-policy discussion fora. 

 That UNESCO influenced 193 countries to accept a similar encompassing view of the direction in which science should evolve during this century indicates that scientific stakeholders around the world understand that the digital transformation of science and scientific publishing is both ongoing and offers new opportunities for science and its stakeholders. There is no doubt that the success of the de facto open-science system in response to the COVID-19 challenge helped to eliminate the last global hurdles of skepticism.   

The UNESCO recommendation calls on member states to do three things: to establish regional and international funding mechanisms for open science, to ensure that all publicly funded research respects the principles and core values of open science, and to invest in the infrastructure necessary to support open science. These are all essential components of a mature open-science policy.

With UNESCO’s new mandate in place, it is now up to scientific stakeholders across the globe to ensure that the transition to open science continues to make progress. This will not happen without pushback, because the political and commercial interests that open science, and in particular open data, offer are substantial. “Open” doesn’t indeed necessarily mean free. Truly open science that benefits everyone will only become a reality when we recognize that scientific knowledge should be universally shared and accessible to all, from the highest to the lowest possible entry-level. Science, therefore, should be recognized as a public good.

 At the 4-year check-in timepoint stipulated by UNESCO’s recommendation, let’s set ourselves a target to report that the transition to open science has been completed, to include a worldwide agreement that science must benefit all of humanity. Only at that point will we be able to drop the word “open’’ because it will be the default way that science operates.

 We at Frontiers Policy Labs asked key leaders in the open-science movement around the globe to comment on the geopolitical milestone represented by UNESCO’s open-science recommendation. Those responses can be found in this collection.