Concordia strengthens its commitment to make research more accessible to all
For decades, traditional academic practices have created barriers that keep vital research — from published findings to raw data to methodologies — locked away from the communities, policymakers, practitioners, and other researchers who could benefit most from scientific advances.
Concordia’s Senate has unanimously approved a resolution to change that reality, voting in May to support and advance open science and open scholarship practices across the university. This decision positions Concordia at the forefront of a movement that is reshaping how knowledge is shared and accessed globally.
Open science represents a significant shift towards making research processes and outcomes freely accessible to all. The Senate resolution describes it as “a transformative approach that democratizes access, fosters inclusion and transparency, and promotes fairness, efficiency, and accountability in research. [Open science] ensures that the benefits of scientific and humanistic progress are shared widely.”
The timing is significant as Concordia prepares to host the 1st Canadian Conference on Open Science and Open Scholarship. The event will unite over 150 participants from government, academia, and research organizations to forge collaborations and pioneer strategies for more accessible and transparent research.
Setting a national example
Concordia's commitment to open science has deep roots. In 2010, it became the first Canadian university to endorse open access principles through a university-wide mandate.
Today, the implementation of open science is accelerating across Canada. The Government of Canada’s 2020 Roadmap for Open Science calls for federally-funded research to be “open by design and by default” by 2025. Federal and provincial funding agencies are actively promoting and aligning policies to support this transition.
For example, in 2019, Canada’s Tri-Agency signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), a global initiative challenging traditional metrics and promoting fairer, more inclusive evaluation criteria. The Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) signed DORA in 2020 and then joined cOAlition S in 2021 — an international consortium of research funding organizations catalyzing the transition to open-access publishing.
Concordia further cemented its leadership by signing DORA in 2024.
From scattered efforts to unified action
While Concordia had long championed open access principles, many researchers across the university were working on open science initiatives in isolation, each advancing the cause within their own labs and disciplines.
That changed in 2021 when Krista Byers-Heinlein, professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded the Concordia University Research Chair in Bilingualism and Open Science. In 2022, Nicolás Alessandroni joined as a postdoctoral fellow in open science through the Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowship program. Together, they saw an opportunity to unite Concordia's open science community.
The result was the Open Science@Concordia conference in May 2022, which brought together stakeholders from Concordia and other institutions, for meaningful dialogue on the future of research accessibility.
Momentum continued with the formation of the Concordia Open Science Working Group (OSWG) in September 2022. Led by Byers-Heinlein and Alessandroni, this community-driven initiative gathers over 20 faculty members, trainees, and students, spanning eight departments and units, including Psychology, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Communication Studies, Education and the Library.
The OSWG supports researchers, advances open science practices, and analyzes relevant policies. A key outcome was a co-authored report with concrete recommendations for fostering open science/scholarship at Concordia. This report highlighted how this approach aligns with Concordia’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and its own Sustainability Action Plan.
Transforming research culture at Concordia
Open-science and open-scholarship principles also mirror Concordia’s 2023–2028 Strategic Research Plan, which emphasizes inclusive excellence and Indigenous knowledges while ensuring knowledge is preserved and made openly available.
Tim Evans, vice-president of research, innovation and impact, notes that his office offers several services to help researchers share their work openly.
“Implementation of these principles is vital in making Concordia’s scholarly outputs widely accessible,” Evans says. “This approach will enable researchers to cultivate our shared values of inclusivity, fairness and accountability. And it will ensure that the beneficial impacts of scientific and scholarly accomplishments are accessible to all sectors of society.”
The impact is already visible in individual labs across Concordia. “I've seen how open science has transformed my lab over the past five years. My students have embraced it, it's strengthened our collaborations, and other researchers have used our materials, data, and analysis code to make new discoveries,” says Byers-Heinlein. “It's exciting to help this happen for researchers at Concordia and across Canada.”
For students and early-career researchers, open science represents both an opportunity and a responsibility. “Open science is reshaping research and research assessment through critical principles: that knowledge should be accessible to all whenever feasible, that research thrives on collaboration rather than isolation, and that true impact is achieved when discoveries create real-world change,” Alessandroni explains.
As Canada moves toward the 2025 federal mandate for open science and open scholarship practices, Concordia's early adoption and comprehensive approach position it as a model for other institutions navigating this transition.
Learn more about the 1st Canadian Conference on Open Science and Open Scholarship and the Open Science Working Group at Concordia.
