French Open Science Strategy (2026 – 2033)

Présentation

Since 2018, the year the First French Plan for Open Science was adopted, France has played a leading role in developing open science. There are numerous indicators that demonstrate this, thanks in particular to the French Open Science Monitor, which provides an overview of publications, PhDs, data, software, clinical trials, and institutional policies. The French open science policy enjoys broad support from higher education and research institutions (it is considered useful by 95% of them). As primary stakeholders, they are closely involved in the governance of open science through the French Committee for Open Science and the French Open Science Fund, and are able to implement local versions of the French Open Science Monitor. Institutions have also responded actively to initiatives aimed at consolidating or launching major open science infrastructures for making publications accessible (HAL), sharing data (creation of Recherche Data Gouv), and preserving the world's software assets (Software Heritage).

The percentage of open access publications is another indicator of the progress made since 2018: it has risen from 38% to 61% for all publications, and 40% to 66% for research articles specifically. Articles incorporating open science practices in France enjoyed an increase in citations of up to 19%. There have also been improvements in practices around sharing data, software and clinical trial results. Open science policy has also increased the recognition of open science practices among researchers, with specific open science prizes awarded for theses, data and software. At an international level, several French initiatives have been successful, such as the Open Science Monitoring Initiative (OSMI), the Council of National Open Science Coordination (CoNOSC), and more recently, the Global Research Initiative on Open Science (GRIOS). France has also taken part in international dialogue, notably during the drafting of the 2022 Council of the European Union Conclusions on “Research assessment and implementation of Open Science”, and it is an active participant in the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA).

The French Open Science Strategy (SSO, “Stratégie de science ouverte”) adopts a long‑term perspective (2026-2033), following on from the two consecutive French Plans for Open Science, which were based on shorter cycles of three to four years. The transformation underway shall now be carried out over a longer timeline and embedded within a strategic approach. The SSO analyses the motivations, challenges and opportunities of open science at both national and international level, and sets out four-year action plans to achieve its objectives. The strategy is grounded on scholarly established knowledge and will continue to draw on the findings of academic research to adjust its trajectory.

The French Open Science Strategy (SSO, “Stratégie de science ouverte”) adopts a long‑term perspective (2026-2033), following on from the two consecutive French Plans for Open Science, which were based on shorter cycles of three to four years. The transformation underway shall now be carried out over a longer timeline and embedded within a strategic approach. The SSO analyses the motivations, challenges and opportunities of open science at both national and international level, and sets out four-year action plans to achieve its objectives. The strategy is grounded on scholarly established knowledge and will continue to draw on the findings of academic research to adjust its trajectory.

It is structured around ambitions, challenges, and strategic objectives, and backed by an action plan. The ambitions set out the main goals of open science policies, which seek to enable greater academic sovereignty, greater visibility and impact of research, more cumulative and collaborative research, more reproducible, responsible and sustainable research, and research that – finally – fosters innovation and extends beyond the academic sphere.

After outlining these ambitions, the SSO identifies the major challenges currently facing open science. It reaffirms the key role played by research infrastructure and services for open science. Developing open access raises new challenges relating to access, bibliodiversity, and quality in the field of academic publishing. Despite significant progress and strong engagement from the research community, data sharing has not yet become standard practice across all disciplines. Although software is frequently at the heart of research processes and advances, it is still not sufficiently recognised as a major contribution to science. Lastly, despite significant progress in recent years, the results of clinical trials are still not systematically made public, even though this practice is mandatory under European regulation for ethical, financial and scientific reasons. To address these numerous challenges, France has various levers at its disposal, such as research assessment and international coordination, particularly in order to define a cohesive framework at the European and global level and provide specific services to the research community.

The new context characterized by artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally transforming the entire research process. AI has enabled remarkable scientific advances, but it also raises new issues in the fields of publishing, scientific integrity, and copyright law. It is also transforming the role of open science platforms and information practices. More broadly, France and the European continent can and must contribute to defining the highest international standards of transparency in the methods and outputs of open research. This does not, however, mean opening indiscriminately. Data that must remain closed, or shared within a limited framework, shall remain so. In this context, the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” remains fully relevant. Our goal is to reconcile the imperative of protecting research with the aspiration for open science.

Following this, the SSO sets out strategic objectives for the next four years. Four of these are over‑arching and relate to the transformation of the practices, governance and instruments of open science policy, the ecosystem of open science services and infrastructure, and France's position within the European and international open science landscape. The following four strategic objectives relate to major research outputs: publications, data, software, and the results of clinical trials. The first action plan for the SSO (2026-2029) is structured around these objectives.

The SSO is also complemented by an eight-year review of French open science policy, which highlights the scale of the successes and achievements over the years and the tangible results seen in the transformation of practices, as well as the outputs from the French Committee for Open Science. The guides and reports published are the result of major expertise provided by the French research community and have been essential in developing skills and knowledge, offering diagnostic insights, and formulating propositions for action.

While significant progress has been made in recent years, the ecosystem of open science services and infrastructures remains fragile. A considerable amount of work still remains to be done. In the current geopolitical context, our conviction and duty to take action is even stronger. Now more than ever, we must promote free and open science, continuing the process launched in the early 2000s. The French Open Science Strategy thus charts an ambitious course for the next eight years, aiming to make French research more transparent, collaborative, and sovereign, capable of addressing the research challenges of the 21st century.

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