2023 is the year of the rabbit in the Chinese Lunar calendar, the year Voyager 2 is predicted to overtake Pioneer 10 as the second-farthest spacecraft from Earth, and the Year of Open Science. In an announcement by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), 2023 was declared the Year of Open Science, along with new actions to advance open and equitable research. Creative Commons (CC) congratulates everyone involved in these momentous announcements, which promise to advance open science in the US federal government and bring new investments in open access research. A list of the participating agencies, as well as updates on the initiative, can be found at the newly created open.science.gov. 

2023 will also be a memorable year for CC and the Open Climate Campaign, as we embark on working with national governments, funders and environmental organizations to create, adopt and implement open access policies to promote better sharing of climate change and biodiversity knowledge. We were thrilled to see OSTP emphasize values core to our better sharing strategy at CC: “The principle and practice of making research products and processes available to all, while respecting diverse cultures, maintaining security and privacy, and fostering collaborations, reproducibility, and equity.” CC looks forward to building on our involvement in NASA’s TOPS Community Panel, and to forge new connections and provide direct support on best practices for open licensing requirements, as US federal agencies and departments update their public open access plans per OSTP’s new guidance.

We are excited to work with additional national governments looking to emulate these leaps forward in making publicly funded knowledge openly licensed and accessible for the common good. If you are looking to join the ranks of countries like the Government of Ukraine, which recently approved its National Open Science Action Plan, France and others, please contact us. We are happy to help.

To learn more about the Open Climate Campaign or to connect, please visit the Open Climate Campaign website.