Abstract & Overview
The Paris Open Science European Conference comes at a critical juncture for science.Never before has the need for universal access to science seemed as evident as during this current pandemic.Timely access to science has proved to be key to designing an effective response to COVID-19.More broadly, we know that timely access to science is a vital factor in tackling the myriad of environmental and medical issues that the world faces today.In fact, access to scientific knowledge and its benefits is a human right enshrined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.It is also a question of equality, not just equality between countries and within countries, but equality between men and women.Yet there remain inexcusable divides.We are confronted with a digital divide, a technology divide, a knowledge divide, a knowledge divide between and within countries.As countries call with an ever-greater insistence for these gaps to be closed, transitioning to open science has never been more urgent.Indeed, open science is one of the transformative tools at our disposal to reduce inequalities in science, technology and innovation and fulfil the human right to science and accelerate progress towards the sustainable development goals of the United Nations.Open science not only improves the quality and efficiency of the scientific process, but it makes the process more transparent, more inclusive and more democratic.It was in recognition of this transformative power of open science that UNESCO's 193 Member States adopted the first international standard-setting instrument on open science in November 2021 1 .This Open Science Recommendation of UNESCO came together after two years of discussions between scientists, librarians, data experts, young researchers, coders, publishers, engineers, innovators, decision-makers and indigenous people around the world, who worked hand in hand in a true spirit of compromise to develop a ground-breaking international framework for open science.This Recommendation considers the specific challenges that scientists and other actors face in developing countries, in particular in embracing open science, and this recommendation provides the first internationally agreed definition of open science.It presents key objectives for enablers of open science, but it accommodates the fact that open science cannot be fairly and equitably implemented around the world with a one-size-fits-all strategy.