UNESCO launches open-source platform to advance global open science
UNESCO has officially launched its new Open Science Platform, an open-source resource designed to improve access to UNESCO-supported research and help countries monitor progress towards implementing the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.
The platform was unveiled during the UN Open Source Week 2026, held in New York from 22 to 26 June. Developed in partnership with the United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC), the platform is released as free and open-source software and is built on open technologies, including a customised implementation of CERN’s InvenioRDM repository framework.
Initially focused on research produced or supported by UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Family, the platform aims to make UNESCO-related knowledge more discoverable while providing practical tools to support open science implementation worldwide.
A key feature of the platform is a series of interactive dashboards that track progress across multiple dimensions of open science in UNESCO Member States, including policies, infrastructure, capacity building and incentives. The dashboards are based on quantitative and qualitative data gathered through UNESCO’s first consultation on implementation of its Recommendation on Open Science.
Users can explore cross-country comparisons, detailed country profiles and a semantic cloud highlighting key challenges facing open science implementation, providing insight into developments at global, regional and national levels.
By combining UNESCO-related scientific publications with data on global open science progress, the platform also offers a broader picture of the international research landscape.
Shaofeng Hu, Director of the Division of Ethics, Research and Technology, UNESCO Sciences Sector, said: “By bringing UNESCO-related scientific publications and other research outputs together with data on global open science progress, including the finding that around 75% of responding Member States have open science infrastructure at the national or institutional level, the platform helps make knowledge more discoverable, accessible and useful for evidence-based-decision-making.”
The repository brings together a growing collection of outputs from UNESCO science programmes, awards and fellowship initiatives through a single search interface. The current collection focuses primarily on publications including journal articles, books and reports, with research datasets and other outputs planned for future integration.
Users can also view detailed metadata for individual records, identify their open access status and explore impact indicators such as scholarly and patent citations.
To broaden the accessibility of research, the platform also includes curated highlights and illustrated plain-language summaries covering topics including climate change, water resource management and the gender gap in science. UNESCO says these summaries are intended to help policymakers and wider audiences engage with complex scientific findings and will be updated regularly as new research becomes available.