Tuesday, September 15, 2026, marks a milestone for the global research community with the public launch of the Munich Manifesto for Equitable Open Research.

Developed by the PHIL_OS project after extensive consultation with international stakeholders and partners, the framework ensures Open Research practices benefit all contributors – regardless of location or funding. The Ethical Data Initiative is proud to be a founding signatory.

Why the Munich Manifesto Matters

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. It was conceived to address critical structural risks in the open science movement – specifically, how top-down policies and standardised digital tools disproportionately favour well-resourced institutions, while commercial platform practices risk deepening global inequities. Following a year of international consultations, the framework was formally introduced and collaboratively refined at the FOR2026 Conference (“The Future of Open Research: Reliable, Responsible, Equitable”) in Munich in May 2026, uniting global scholars, policymakers, and activists behind a shared vision for ethical and inclusive research.

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.

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.

Why the EDI is Endorsing the Manifesto

Our endorsement rests on a simple conviction: data governance and open science must be ethical, inclusive, and practical. Open science isn’t truly open if it widens global inequalities or ignores local needs. The Manifesto’s focus on domain-specific input, ethical evaluation of tools (including AI), and data protection aligns directly with the EDI’s mission to foster responsible data management worldwide.

Become a Signatory

Building an equitable open science ecosystem takes collective action. The Munich Manifesto isn’t just a statement of values – it is a practical framework for institutions, funders, and researchers. We encourage communities to support the document, at both the individual and institutional level, and adapt it to their own regional and disciplinary needs.

Visit the Munich Manifesto Signatory Page to read the full text, add your support, and help build a fairer research ecosystem.