Salvador Declaration on Open Access: the developing world perspective (2005), Participants of the International Seminar on Open Access

What is this about?

Salvador Declaration on Open Access: the Developing World Perspective (2005), produced by participants of the International Seminar on Open Access, sets international expectations for open science and open access with a focus on developing countries. Written in English, it frames openness as the default while balancing ethics, privacy, intellectual property, and security, following the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary.” The declaration emphasizes open access publishing through trusted repositories, Creative Commons licensing, persistent identifiers, and FAIR data principles supported by data management plans. Responsibilities for researchers, institutions, and funders are clearly defined, including rights retention, funding acknowledgment, and transparent management of embargoes or exceptions. Infrastructure such as repositories, registries, and discovery systems supports compliance and visibility, aligning local practice with global initiatives like Plan S and the European Open Science Cloud. Equity, inclusion, and responsible openness are central, with safeguards for sensitive and Indigenous data. Serving as both a benchmark and practical checklist, it offers actionable guidance to enhance transparency, reproducibility, and equitable access worldwide.

For whom is this important?

All stakeholders in research

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