Launch of the French Open Science Strategy 2026-2033
The Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Space (MESRE) has launched today the new French Open Science Strategy (Stratégie de science ouverte – SSO) for the next eight years. Announced during the 4th OECD Blue Sky Forum on data and indicators for Science, Technology, and Innovation, this ambitious national policy reaffirms France’s strong and ongoing commitment to more transparent, collaborative, and accessible research.
France’s pioneering role in open science
The ambition of open science is to make research methods, materials, and results as accessible as possible. Since the launch of the first French Plan for Open Science in 2018, France has established itself as a key player in this field. The indicators from the French Open Science Monitor (BSO) assess the progress of French policy: the open access publication rate has increased from 38% to 61% for all publications, from 40% to 66% for research articles, and from 54% to 86% for publications resulting from research funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR). Furthermore, open science has a positive effect on the visibility and impact of French research: French articles adopting open science practices benefit from a citation advantage of up to +19% (https://doi.org/10.1162/QSS.a.487).
BSO indicators also show remarkable progress in data and software sharing, as well as in the communication of clinical trial results. The Open Science Awards for PhDs, research data, and open source research software have helped recognise researchers committed to open science. These advancements demonstrate a genuine collective momentum in favour of open science.
After two national plans, a long-term strategy
The French Open Science Strategy 2026-2033 aims to strengthen and intensify the changes already initiated through the two previous national plans, which covered three- to four-year cycles. It adopts a long-term approach, combining a strategic vision with four-year action plans.
The Strategy is structured around ambitions, challenges, strategic objectives, and an action plan. The ambitions of open science are to enable:
- Enhanced visibility, impact and academic sovereignty,
- More cumulative and collaborative research,
- More reproducible, responsible, and sustainable research,
- Research that fosters innovation and extends beyond the academic world.
Among the main challenges of open science, the French Open Science Strategy identifies: the heterogeneity of practices across disciplines, resistance to data sharing, the fragility of open science infrastructures, quality issues in academic publishing, a still limited recognition of software as a significant contribution to research. Research services and infrastructures play an essential role in open science. Despite recent improvements, the reporting of clinical trial results has not yet become a standardised practice, even though it is required by a European regulation.
The French Open Science Strategy also identifies key levers to address these challenges, such as: research assessment and international coordination, particularly to establish a coherent framework and tailored services at the European and global levels. Artificial intelligence (AI) enables significant progress but also raises new issues, especially in publishing, scientific integrity, and copyright. The ambition of the Strategy is to reconcile the imperative of research protection with the goal of open science, in compliance with the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary.”
The 2026-2029 Action Plan
After outlining the ambitions, challenges, and opportunities of open science, the Strategy lists eight strategic objectives to guide the four-year action plans. Four of these strategic objectives focus on: transforming practices, the governance and instruments for open science policy, developing the ecosystem of services and infrastructures, positioning France within the European and international open science landscape.
The other four objectives focus on research outputs: publications, data, software, and clinical trial results. The 2026-2029 Action Plan breaks down these strategic objectives into 30 actions and aims to implement 75 concrete measures. It includes new projects, such as the creation of a national forge for software developed in higher education and research. It also strengthens key open science initiatives, including HAL, Recherche Data Gouv, and Software Heritage.
The French Open Science Strategy builds on an eight-year assessment of France’s open science policy, showcasing its achievements and the contributions of the French Committee for Open Science, as resulting from the extensive expertise provided by the French research community. Progress has been notable, but substantial work remains to be done.
France plays a central role in defining demanding international standards for transparency in research methods and outputs. The SSO, through its strategic approach and concrete action plans, guides this momentum to strengthen the openness of science while ensuring the protection of knowledge
For more information:
- The French release published on the Ministry’s website: https://enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/en/launch-french-open-science-strategy-2026-2033-104215
- Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Space. French Open Science Strategy. July 2026. https://doi.org/10.52949/94
- Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Espace. Stratégie de science ouverte. 2026. https://doi.org/10.52949/93
