Ouvrir la Science — French National Open Science Plan
Overview
Ouvrir la Science is the French national open science plan (2018, updated 2021-2024). It mandates open access to publications, FAIR research data deposit, open source software publication, and transformed research evaluation. Implemented by CoSO and enforced through ANR Open Science Policy.
The plan builds on the statutory basis established by the Loi pour une République numérique (loi n° 2016-1321 of 7 October 2016), whose Article 30 (codified as Article L. 533-4 of the Code de la recherche) granted researchers the right to deposit publicly funded publications in an open archive after a maximum embargo of 6 or 12 months, overriding publisher contracts. The law created the right to deposit, and the national plan and its funder mandates make deposit a requirement. See France for the wider French policy landscape.
Key Pillars of the Second PNSO (2021–2024)
The Second National Plan for Open Science (2021–2024) expanded the original 2018 PNSO with four pillars. The first is open access to publications via HAL, aligned with cOAlition S and Plan S. The second is FAIR research data via Recherche Data Gouv, with mandatory DMPs via OPIDoR. The third covers open source software, including Software Heritage deposits and code citation. The fourth addresses transforming research practices and incentives, embedding open science in hiring and evaluation.
The National Fund for Open Science (FNSO) was created alongside the Second PNSO to provide dedicated funding for open science infrastructure and practices, including support for diamond open access journals, open software, and open science training.
Connections
- relatedTo: EOSC (Ouvrir la Science aligns French open science with the EOSC policy framework)
- relatedTo: OpenAIRE (OpenAIRE provides open access compliance monitoring relevant to French mandates)
- relatedTo: UNESCO Open Science Recommendation (Ouvrir la Science aligns with UNESCO global open science norms)