This was my email sent to openscience@unesco.org with the subject line “Feedback on equitable scholarly communication”. I have provided specific annotations within the attached PDF to address concerns regarding Diamond Open Access recognition, English-centric metrics, and the technical hurdles of similarity detection in Green OA.
Dear UNESCO Open Science Team,
Thank you for the opportunity to review the draft of UNESCO’S policy brief on Equitable Scholarly Communication for the Implementation of Open Science. I appreciate the thorough analysis presented and fully support the intent to strengthen equity within global scholarly communication systems.
From the perspective of current conditions in Indonesia and many ASEAN countries (excluding Singapore), I would like to offer several observations that may help strengthen the brief:
- Alignment with National Research Assessment Systems
Many of the inequities described in the draft are not only relevant but are actively experienced by researchers in Indonesia and several ASEAN countries. National‑level regulations governing academic promotion, research evaluation, and institutional performance often rely heavily on Western‑centric metrics—particularly commercial journal indexes and citation‑based indicators. This reliance tends to reproduce global inequalities, prioritizing compliance with Western publishing systems over the development of locally meaningful scholarly ecosystems. - Need for Explicit Reference to the UNESCO Open Science Recommendation
Given this context, it would be extremely valuable for the policy brief to explicitly call on governments to ensure that national research assessment frameworks are aligned with the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, which implicitly (unfortunately) advises against dependence on Western‑centric metrics and encourages the recognition of diverse outputs, languages, and epistemologies. An explicit mention would help policymakers in the Global South advocate for reforms that reduce structural barriers and support more equitable scholarly communication. - Importance of Contextualized Scholarly Infrastructure
Indonesia and ASEAN countries face additional challenges such as limited funding for research infrastructure, uneven access to high‑quality open repositories, and linguistic disadvantages within the global publishing system. Acknowledging these realities directly in the brief would strengthen its applicability and offer clearer guidance for countries working to implement open science in constrained environments.
I strongly support the direction of the document and believe that explicitly addressing the interaction between national regulations and the UNESCO Recommendation will help the brief make a more transformative impact—especially for countries currently dependent on Western evaluation models.
Along with this document, allow me to introduce my work submitted to UNESCO Jakarta. It’s compilation of my drawings regarding open science (please visit this google photos link).
Thank you again for the opportunity to contribute. I would be happy to provide additional context or examples if needed.
Warm regards,
Dr. Dasapta Erwin Irawan (Faculty of Earth Sciences and Technology, Institut Teknologi Bandung)