Development of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science
Background
At the 40th session of UNESCO’s General Conference (2019), Members States tasked the Organization with the development of an international standard-setting instrument on Open Science in the form of a UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science to be adopted by Member States in 2021 ().
To build a global consensus on Open Science, the development of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science relied on an inclusive, transparent and consultative process involving all countries and all stakeholders, including Member States, the scientific community as a whole, the key scientific international and national institutions and entities, other relevant United Nations agencies, citizens and traditional knowledge holders. An Open Science Advisory Committee was established by the Director-General of UNESCO to guide this consultative process.
The inputs gathered through multistakeholder consultations at the regional and global levels informed the development of a first draft. This draft was then examined by Member States, as well as technical and legal experts, leading to a final text that was submitted to the UNESCO General Conference at its 41st session. The UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science was unanimously adopted by 193 countries in November 2021 ().
What is a UNESCO Recommendation?
UNESCO Recommendations are legal instruments in which “the General Conference formulates principles and norms for the international regulation of any particular question and invites Member States to take whatever legislative or other steps may be required in conformity with the constitutional practice of each State and the nature of the question under consideration to apply the principles and norms aforesaid within their respective territories”. Emanating from the Organization's supreme governing body and hence possessing great authority, recommendations are intended to influence the development of national laws and practices.
Other relevant UNESCO Recommendations:
Multistakeholder consultations
To build a global consensus on Open Science, UNESCO led a regionally balanced, multistakeholder, inclusive and transparent consultation process.
In view of including the perspective of actors from all regions, groups and disciplines, inputs to develop the first draft of the Recommendation on open Science was acquired though a series of online and face to face consultations, initiated in December 2019, to support an open debate on Open Science awareness, understanding and policy development to feed into the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.
Intergovernmental meeting of technical and legal experts
An Intergovernmental special committee meeting of technical and legal experts related to the draft UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science was held on 6-7 May and 10-11 May 2021, in order to examine the draft text of the Recommendation. On 11 May, experts from 107 countries provisionally adopted the text for submission to the 41st session of the UNESCO General Conference.
Open Science Advisory Committee
The consultative process leading to the adoption of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science was led by an international Open Science Advisory Committee, established by the Director-General of UNESCO. The Committee was comprised of 24 representatives of Member States (four from each UNESCO electoral group) and six representatives of key scientific bodies and institutions dealing with open science.
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Background documents
Comments on the first draft
As per the Circular letter , UNESCO Member States were invited to provided their comments on the first draft of the Recommendation, by 31 December 2020. The UNESCO Secretariat received constructive and insightful comments and observations from forty Member States.