Launch by the Ethical Data Initiative: “The Munich Manifesto for Equitable Open Research originated within the Philosophy of Open Science for Diverse Research Environments (PHIL_OS) project, led by Professor Sabina Leonelli at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) as part of a European Research Council (ERC) project. …
While open publishing and shared datasets have accelerated discovery, they have also created new hurdles. Top-down policies and standardised digital tools are usually built around well-funded institutions. As a result, wealthy research centres end up setting the standards, while researchers in less-resourced settings, non-academic experts, and local knowledge holders can be left behind.
Furthermore, unchecked commercial practices, such as high open-access publishing fees and uncredited AI scraping of public data, threaten to widen global disparities rather than close them.
Read and support the Munich Manifesto here
The Munich Manifesto directly tackles these systemic risks across five key areas:
• Diversity: Respecting local knowledge, domain-specific methods, and distinct research traditions.
• Resilience: Supporting long-term stewardship for both digital and physical research infrastructures.
• Engagement: Building genuine, non-exploitative partnerships across communities.
• Justice: Addressing historical inequities and offering fair recognition for all contributions.
• Honesty: Remaining transparent about system limitations, security risks, and biases…(More)”.
