Description : The Principles have been developed by the Open Science Monitoring Initiative (OSMI) based on an initial draft prepared by a group of experts participating in an international workshop held at UNESCO
in December 2023 and finalized through a consultative process led by UNESCO and OSMI from June 2024 to June 2025. The Principles of Open Science Monitoring are aspirational and should be interpreted flexibly, considering stakeholders’ contexts, capacities, and resources. Importantly, the principles are not prescriptive, nor are they intended for assessing individual researchers, given the ethical, legal, and practical complexities involved. They should serve as a foundation for ongoing discussion and further refinement by open science monitoring initiatives. Aligned with the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, these principles emphasize quality and integrity, equity, inclusion, collective benefit, fairness, inclusivity, and recognition of diverse open science practices, outputs, and outcomes. They aim to help stakeholders, including national governments, research organizations, funders, open infrastructures, data providers, and research communities, develop and implement monitoring approaches suited to their unique contexts.