In the report, the French Academy of Sciences reaffirms its support for national and international initiatives that promote ethically acceptable open science. For the Academy, the opening up of science must be seen in the context of an evolution in the evaluation of research results and this indispensable and demanding activity must be carried out by peers and be better valued and recognised.
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Recommendations of the French Academy of Sciences for a practical application of the principles of open science

Open Science Working Group of the Academy of Sciences

January 2022

Executive Summary

The opening up of science, i.e., the free provision to all readers of the results of research, articles and associated data, as well as protocols, software, programs, laboratory notebooks, etc., and their free reuse under Creative Commons-type licenses, aims to give the scientific publication system an ethical and transparent momentum, of international scope.

Despite the enthusiasm generated by this laudable movement, obstacles to its free accessibility remain, due to the very functioning of the evaluation of research actors, and threats exist at the international level, particularly regarding sensitive biological data.

Researchers, individually or through learned societies and academies, are key players in taking charge of this important transition towards greater accessibility, by being both drivers of the evolution of the methods of evaluation of research results and by maintaining close contact with information and documentation professionals.

It is on the occasion of the formulation of the second National Plan for Open Science and while it will host in 2022 the OSEC22 (Open Science European Conference) within the framework of the French Presidency of the European Union, that the Academy of Sciences wishes to reaffirm its support for national and international initiatives that promote ethically acceptable open science. Thus, this report proposes to draw up an inventory of the current modalities of scientific publishing and intends to promote the many appropriate ways to follow for its evolution.

 

Sommaire

Executive Summary

Recommandations for a practical application of the principles of open science

Introduction

The state of play

Recommendations for a wider and more responsible opening

1. Improve the publication system for research results and promote « biblio-diversity »

The different publication systems to be promoted and encouraged
The crucial issue of access to research data

2. Reconsider and value evaluation in a necessarily international context

The validation of research results is inseparable from peer review
Evaluation, a bottleneck for open science?
Necessary training in evaluation and scientific integrity during graduate studies
Open science: an international practice

Conclusion

Appendix

Workgroup composition