Deuxième Plan National pour la science ouverte (2021), Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation

What is this about?

Deuxième Plan National pour la science ouverte (2021) is a national resource produced by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, written in French, and aimed at stakeholders in France. It provides clear guidance on open science and open access, translating high-level principles into actionable steps for researchers, institutions, funders, and publishers. The document positions openness as the default, balanced with ethics, privacy, intellectual property, and security, promoting the principle of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary.” It emphasizes the link between openness and research quality, reproducibility, faster knowledge translation, and equitable access, particularly for communities with limited subscription access. Key elements include open access to publications, preferred licensing like Creative Commons, persistent identifiers, deposition in trusted repositories, and adherence to FAIR data principles through comprehensive data management plans. Operational guidance covers author and institutional responsibilities, funding acknowledgment, rights retention, budgeting, and justifiable embargoes or exceptions. The resource highlights enabling infrastructure, assessment mechanisms, and governance for responsible openness. For practitioners, it provides a coherent reference that aligns French open science practice with international norms, reduces ambiguity, and offers practical steps to enhance transparency, reproducibility, and equitable access. Published in 2021, it is a credible reference for policy, training, and grant documentation.

For whom is this important?

All stakeholders in research

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