CODATA, the Committee on Data of the International Science Council (ISC), wrote The Beijing Declaration on Research Data after discussions regarding current data policy issues during the 2019 edition of their yearly conference, held in China in September of this year. 

The declaration mentions the FAIR Principles and global Open Science as requirements for supporting the understanding of environmental, health and sustainability challenges we face in science and society. 

“Scientific discovery must not be impeded unnecessarily by fragmented and closed systems, and the stewardship of research data should avoid defaulting to the traditional, proprietary approach of scholarly publishing. Therefore, the adoption of new policies and principles, coordinated and implemented globally, is necessary for research data and the associated infrastructures, tools, services, and practices. The time to act on the basis of solid policies for research data is now.

The Beijing Declaration is intended as a timely statement of core principles to encourage global cooperation, especially for public research data. It builds on and acknowledges the many national and international efforts that have been undertaken in the policy and technical spheres on a worldwide basis. These major contributions are listed in the Appendix.” 

For more information, check out the CODATA news or go directly to the Beijing Declaration on Research Data.