A new UNESCO Chair in Open Science at Université de Montréal

A new UNESCO Chair in Open Science has been created to promote access to research for all and continue UNESCO’s efforts to support open science. It will be held by Vincent Larivière, a professor at the School of Library and Information Science at the Faculty of Arts and Science.

As Chair, he will study the practices of open science and the various forms it takes, such as open access, open data and open peer review. He will also examine the impact of these practices on both research quality and on society itself, and the barriers and incentives to adopting open science practices.

The Chair is hosted by Université de Montréal, with support from 17 partners in 10 countries. Partner organizations include Érudit, the Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas), Leiden University's Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST), Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy, Université Mohammed V de Rabat and Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.

A deep commitment to open science

After helping introduce UdeM’s open access policy, Larivière will lead the new UNESCO Chair in Open Science, continuing the work he performed as a Canada Research Chair in the Transformations of Scholarly Communication (2013–2023).

“The programs and initiatives that professor Larivière wants to launch will help us better understand the nature and realities of open science practices, their impact on the type of science produced and the factors that lead to their adoption,” said rector Daniel Jutras.

“Science is a common good. Universities must therefore take the lead in collectively creating the conditions required for open science practices to be adopted throughout the educational ecosystem, while simultaneously monitoring how they impact the scientific community,” he continued.

Promoting knowledge transfer around the world

In 2021, UNESCO recommended that scientific publications and data should be inclusive and accessible to all, without financial or geographic barriers.

The Chair in Open Science aims to study the barriers to accessing scientific literature in African countries and to the development of infrastructure for disseminating knowledge. The project’s global partners will help ensure conditions in different communities are taken into account.

The Chair will also support initiatives by the governments of Canada and Quebec to support open-access knowledge dissemination, especially via the Érudit platform.

Helping shape the next generation

The Chair in Open Science will accept students interested in conducting graduate or post-doctoral research. In particular, candidates from countries of the Global South and from under-represented groups are encouraged to apply.