Paris, France · 7–8 July 2025 — Over 500 participants gathered at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and online for the Open Science: Monitoring Progress, Assessing Impact conference, a landmark event marking the first global reporting cycle on the implementation of the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science. The conference represented a significant step toward building a global approach to measuring progress in open science and understanding its real-world impact on research, collaboration, and society.
The event was convened nearly four years after the adoption of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science in November 2021 — the first international standard-setting instrument on open science, endorsed by 193 Member States. The conference provided the first structured opportunity for countries to present national assessments of progress since the Recommendation's adoption.
A First-of-Its-Kind Global Reporting Process
For the first time since the Recommendation's adoption, Member States presented national reports assessing progress in implementing open science policies, infrastructure, and practices. The 77 country submissions formed the basis of UNESCO's first global consultation on open science monitoring, providing an unprecedented snapshot of how the principles of open science are being translated into national legislative and administrative measures.
During a panel on the first monitoring cycle, representatives from China, Côte d'Ivoire, Saudi Arabia, and the UNESCO Chair on Diversity and Inclusion in Global Science reported persistent challenges across diverse national contexts. Common obstacles included data fragmentation, limited institutional coordination, and low awareness of open science practices among researchers and policymakers.
The UNESCO Chair also highlighted a structural barrier that resonates across both developed and developing research systems: conventional research assessment systems, which prioritise publication metrics and competitive funding models, can actively hinder the implementation of open science practices that emphasise collaboration, data sharing, and reproducibility.
From Policy to Practice: Making Monitoring Meaningful
The conference showcased outcomes from several EU Horizon projects and initiatives that are developing practical tools for open science monitoring:
Open Science Impact Pathways (PathOS)
The PathOS project shared its Open Science Impact Indicator Handbook, which goes beyond traditional bibliometric metrics to capture real outcomes of open science practices — including societal impact, economic returns, and research efficiency gains. The handbook stresses the need for monitoring frameworks that can capture the diverse ways in which open science benefits both the research community and society at large.
European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Track
The EOSC Track project launched phase two of its Open Science Observatory, a dynamic tool offering accessible and harmonised policy intelligence across Europe. The observatory provides a real-time view of open science policy adoption, infrastructure development, and practice patterns — enabling policymakers and institutions to benchmark their progress against peers and identify areas for improvement.
Open Universal Science (OPUS) Project
The EU Horizon's OPUS project provided insights into modalities for embedding open science indicators into institutional practices. A central theme of the conference was the connection between monitoring and reforming research assessment — the recognition that open science will only flourish when career advancement and institutional reputation are tied to open practices rather than exclusively to traditional publication metrics.
The consensus among participants was clear: monitoring must be inclusive, actionable, and fit local research contexts. A one-size-fits-all approach would fail to capture the diversity of open science adoption across different national systems, disciplinary cultures, and institutional settings.
Launch of the Principles for Open Science Monitoring
A highlight of the conference was the launch of the Principles for Open Science Monitoring, developed through a wide consultation under the Open Science Monitoring Initiative (OSMI). The Principles were drawn from input by 150 experts across 41 countries and are grounded in three pillars:
| Pillar | Principle |
|---|---|
| Relevance and significance | Monitoring should focus on what matters — capturing outcomes that reflect the true impact of open science on research and society |
| Transparency and reproducibility | Monitoring methods and data should themselves be open, transparent, and reproducible — embodying the principles they seek to measure |
| Self-assessment and responsible use | Monitoring should support self-improvement rather than punitive ranking, with data used responsibly to guide policy and practice |
The Principles are intended to offer a shared, practical foundation to guide future monitoring efforts at national, institutional, and international levels. They will be submitted for consideration to UNESCO's Executive Board in 2026, potentially becoming an official reference framework for open science monitoring worldwide.
What Comes Next
UNESCO will continue working with Member States and partners to analyse findings from the first monitoring cycle, share regional insights, and support national capacity-building for open science implementation. Full results will appear in the UNESCO Open Science Outlook Volume 2, set to be published in 2026.
Key data from the monitoring cycle will also feed into two complementary UNESCO platforms:
- The Global Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Instruments (GO-SPIN): A comprehensive database of STI policy instruments worldwide, which will incorporate open science policies and monitoring data.
- The Open and Inclusive Science Hub: A platform designed to promote equity and inclusion in science, ensuring that open science benefits are distributed across regions, genders, and institutional contexts.
Implications for African Research Systems
For African research institutions, the global open science monitoring cycle presents both opportunities and challenges. The open science movement — with its emphasis on open access publishing, open data, open educational resources, and citizen science — aligns with long-standing calls for greater equity in the global research system. If research outputs from African institutions are openly accessible, they become more visible, more citable, and more likely to influence policy and practice.
However, the challenges identified at the conference — data fragmentation, limited institutional coordination, low awareness, and misaligned research assessment systems — are particularly acute in many African countries. Building the infrastructure, policies, and institutional capacity for open science requires sustained investment, which must compete with other pressing research priorities.
The inclusion of Côte d'Ivoire in the monitoring panel demonstrates that African countries are engaging with the open science agenda, but the continent's overall representation among the 77 reporting countries remains a concern. As UNESCO prepares the Open Science Outlook Volume 2 and the Principles move toward Executive Board consideration, ensuring that African perspectives and experiences are adequately reflected will be essential for building a truly global open science framework.
With a shared framework, a growing community of practice, and guiding principles now in place, the foundation for global open science monitoring has been set. The work that remains — translating principles into action, building monitoring capacity in under-resourced research systems, and ensuring that open science delivers on its promise of more equitable and effective research — will require sustained collective effort in the years ahead.
Sources
- UNESCO, A step towards global open science monitoring, 29 July 2025 —
- UNESCO, Implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science —
- UNESCO, First consultation on the implementation of the 2021 Recommendation —
- Open Science Monitoring Initiative (OSMI), Principles for Open Science Monitoring —
- PathOS Project, Open Science Impact Indicator Handbook —
- EOSC Track, Open Science Observatory —
FIRAT Editorial Board
Institutional Research Desk · Foresight Institute of Research and Translation
The collective editorial and research translation board of FIRAT, synthesising peer-reviewed evidence, policy briefs, and division milestones across our seven foundational research pillars.
