A new European Commission report says Open Science, which promotes sharing and reuse of research, does not automatically deliver fairness for all researchers.
The report, "Equity in Open Science: Case studies of Open Science infrastructures and Open Peer Review," says “deliberate choices” are needed in how Open Science is designed and supported if it is to be more equitable, the Commission said in a statement on Monday.
It examines whether widely used research “infrastructures” — such as online repositories for storing papers and data, publishing platforms, collaboration tools and services that link research outputs — work well for different research communities.
The report says the design, governance and accessibility of these services can affect who is able to use them, contribute to them and benefit from them.
Community-governed platforms can better reflect researchers’ needs and values, but the report says they can also face long-term funding and sustainability problems and may rely on volunteer labour.
It also identifies gaps in infrastructure between countries, regions, disciplines, languages and research formats, which the report says can limit participation in Open Science.
Open peer review and “infradiversity”
The report calls for “infradiversity” — a term it uses for a more varied and interconnected mix of Open Science infrastructures — including support for multilingualism, disciplinary diversity and systems that can work together.
On peer review, the report says making review processes more open can increase accountability and recognition for reviewers, but it can also create challenges for early-career researchers and people from underrepresented groups who may be less comfortable openly criticising established academics.
Barriers such as unequal access to technology, publication costs, power imbalances and career-stage differences continue to affect participation even when review processes are made more open.
The report also points to “Publish–Review–Curate” models — where research can be published first and then reviewed and assessed afterwards — as alternatives, while saying they require investment and evaluation.
The Commission said the report feeds into work under the European Research Area Policy Agenda 2025 — 2027, an EU framework that seeks to align research policies and programmes across the bloc.
