Open science has been a priority of the European Commission since 2016 and includes the implementation of mechanisms for open access to scientific publications and data, the development of the European Open Science Cloud, the improvement of science metrics and researcher career evaluation, the enhancement of research reproducibility, the development of open science skills among researchers, the advancement of open access publishing platforms, and more. In particular, legally open and free access to scientific publications and the research data they reference is a requirement for receiving grants under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme.
In parallel with Europe, open access policies are also being implemented in the United States, Canada, China, Japan, and even in African countries. The reason for its growing popularity is that open science not only ensures a more level playing field for researchers and facilitates verification of reported scientific results, but also helps society spend research funding more efficiently by avoiding unnecessary duplication of experimental work and repetition of research and development topics.