Open Access Australasia has submitted feedback on UNESCO’s draft factsheet “Equity in scholarly communication for the implementation of open science” participating in the global consultation. The factsheet is destined for inclusion in the UNESCO Open Science Toolkit once finalised, offering practical guidance on ways to embed equity in scholarly communication.
Key priorities raised in our submission
OAA values UNESCO’s historical contextualisation of the challenges to equity in scholarly communication. Our feedback notes this narrative primarily reflects Western European traditions and risks presenting these traditions as universal. Our feedback suggests a framing that explicitly acknowledges diverse global epistemological approaches. Presenting the Western European scholarly communication narrative as the baseline against which equity is measured risks reproducing the very epistemic exclusions the fact sheet seeks to address.
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OAA strongly agrees with UNESCO’s assessment that APCs and transformative agreements create persistent equity challenges. Reliance on APCs and transformative agreements risks concentrating benefits among well-resourced institutions rather than broadening equitable participation.The growing dominance of large commercial publishers in services like data analytics and brokerage risks further limiting diversity across the academic publishing ecosystem.
OAA applauds UNESCO’s recognition of the broad and complex scholarly ecosystem. Our feedback encourages explicit reference to bibliodiversity as sustaining healthy systems through linguistic plurality, regional publishing capacity, interdisciplinary approaches, and equitable inclusion of diverse knowledge traditions, all of which are essential for equity.
OAA strongly endorses UNESCO’s commitment to diverse knowledge systems. Our feedback urges that Indigenous knowledge, data sovereignty, and governance principles be foundational throughout the framework rather than supplemental to it.
The 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science positions open dialogue with Indigenous, traditional, and local knowledge systems as a foundational pillar of open science, essential for creating inclusive, equitable research ecosystems that respect diverse epistemologies and address complex global challenges. We therefore welcome the factsheet’s acknowledgement of the undervaluing of diverse knowledge systems and non-traditional outputs in current research assessment, and its recognition that Indigenous scholars face persistent systemic barriers including underrepresentation on editorial boards, fewer peer review invitations, longer publication timelines, reduced acceptance and citation rates, and diminished visibility.
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However, OAA’s feedback notes a significant structural concern: references to Indigenous knowledge systems, data sovereignty, and governance appear late in the document and largely as addenda to broader recommendations rather than as principles integrated throughout. This is inconsistent with the foundational status that the 2021 Recommendation accords to Indigenous knowledge systems. A document genuinely committed to equity in scholarly communication should reflect Indigenous perspectives not as a special case to be accommodated, but as a legitimate and parallel knowledge tradition that shapes the entire framework.
Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Governance (IDS&G) principles (and their international equivalents, including the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Stewardship explicitly referenced) must be recognised as foundational to any genuinely equitable scholarly communication framework, not as supplemental considerations. This requires not simply Indigenous participation in the development of such frameworks, but Indigenous leadershipOAA urges UNESCO to finalise this factsheet as a transformative tool that not only diagnoses inequities but mandates systemic change across scholarly communication. By centring diverse epistemologies, bibliodiversity, and Indigenous leadership from the outset, the toolkit can realise the 2021 Recommendation’s vision of truly equitable open science. We look forward to its implementation
OAA supports UNESCO’s analysis of the linguistic barriers to equity in scholarly publishing. The draft makes clear that non-native English speakers face twice the rejection rates for language reasons, additional editing burdens, and limited journal acceptance of non-English publications. 
Our feedback highlights that researchers from under-resourced regions face pressure to publish in Northern journals, extracting knowledge from its local context and often rendering it inaccessible to originating communities. Journals also lack formats to accommodate Indigenous and other non-Western research methodologies, with policies and peer review processes too narrowly defined to recognise diverse epistemologies and outputs beyond the Western paradigm.
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OAA urges UNESCO to finalise this factsheet as a transformative tool that not only diagnoses inequities but mandates systemic change across scholarly communication. By centring diverse epistemologies, bibliodiversity, and Indigenous leadership from the outset, the toolkit can realise the 2021 Recommendation’s vision of truly equitable open science. We look forward to its implementation!
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