The heads of three UN agencies joined forces on Tuesday to appeal for a global push towards “open science”, citing the value of cooperation in the response to COVID-19 and the dangers of treating evidence-based knowledge as an exclusive asset, or a simple matter of opinion.
Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Michelle Bachelet, UN human rights chief (OHCHR), said it was time to ensure the benefits of science could be shared by all.
The influential European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), home to the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, is also supporting the call.
Science not ‘only for the few’
“In these difficult times, the best health technologies and discoveries cannot be preserved only for a few”, the WHO chief said.
“They must be available to all. After all, what’s the purpose of having cutting-edge technologies if they cannot reach the people that need them the most? Sharing data and information that is often kept secret or protected by intellectual property could significantly advance the speed at which technologies are developed.
“An open research process also promotes transparency and helps to safeguard against misuse and allows others to validate the research process. So I warmly welcome today’s call for open science, a call for inclusiveness and solidarity.”
Ms. Azoulay said the global fight against COVID-19 had highlighted the need for universal access to science as never before and the potential of cooperation.
Solidarity ‘a model for the future’
“The solidarity shown by the global scientific community is a model for the future. In the face of global challenges we need collective intelligence more today than ever”, she said.
“And yet before COVID-19, only one in four scientific publications were openly accessible, meaning millions of researchers were denied the possibility of reading their colleagues’ works.
“Today, closed science models do no longer work, because they amplify inequalities between countries and researchers and because they only make scientific progress available to a minority.”
There was an urgent need to open up and democratize science, not just by liberalizing access to publications, but by making the entire scientific process more accessible, more transparent, and more participatory by sharing data, protocols, software, and infrastructure, the UNESCO chief added.
Coherent vision
Concerning the drive towards international laws and standards, UNESCO’s 193 Member States have already mandated the organization to draft an international instrument, a recommendation on how to build a coherent vision of open science, with a shared set of overarching principles and values.
The first draft was completed last month and the text was now open for comments, with countries scheduled to adopt a final version by the end of 2021, Ms. Azoulay said.
“They must be available to all. After all, what’s the purpose of having cutting-edge technologies if they cannot reach the people that need them the most? Sharing data and information that is often kept secret or protected by intellectual property could significantly advance the speed at which technologies are developed.
“An open research process also promotes transparency and helps to safeguard against misuse and allows others to validate the research process. So I warmly welcome today’s call for open science, a call for inclusiveness and solidarity.”
Ms. Azoulay said the global fight against COVID-19 had highlighted the need for universal access to science as never before and the potential of cooperation.
Solidarity ‘a model for the future’
“The solidarity shown by the global scientific community is a model for the future. In the face of global challenges we need collective intelligence more today than ever”, she said.
“And yet before COVID-19, only one in four scientific publications were openly accessible, meaning millions of researchers were denied the possibility of reading their colleagues’ works.
“Today, closed science models do no longer work, because they amplify inequalities between countries and researchers and because they only make scientific progress available to a minority.”
There was an urgent need to open up and democratize science, not just by liberalizing access to publications, but by making the entire scientific process more accessible, more transparent, and more participatory by sharing data, protocols, software, and infrastructure, the UNESCO chief added.
Coherent vision
Concerning the drive towards international laws and standards, UNESCO’s 193 Member States have already mandated the organization to draft an international instrument, a recommendation on how to build a coherent vision of open science, with a shared set of overarching principles and values.
The first draft was completed last month and the text was now open for comments, with countries scheduled to adopt a final version by the end of 2021, Ms. Azoulay said.
This post was originally published by the UN News Centre. Click here to read.