The current landscape of the Open Science Initiative in the ASEAN region

Abstract

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The UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science (2021) has served as a global guiding framework, encouraging regional organizations, countries, and institutions to make scientific knowledge openly available, reusable, inclusive, and transparent by promoting collaborative scientific practices for the benefit of science and society. Regional blocs, such as the European Union (EU), whose member states are connected by shared regional economic integration and interests, have proactively engaged in influencing knowledge ecosystems, advancing policies on open science, and sustaining collaborative dialogues within Europe’s research and scientific communities as exemplified in the EU open science policy (European Commission, 2016) and Plan S initiative (European Science Foundation, 2018). The African Union (AU) is also increasing momentum in supporting policies on collaborative open knowledge sharing through the endorsement of free trade agreements within the African continent and its policy commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (Okafor et al., 2022). Several single-country and institutional efforts from Southeast Asia have demonstrated strong support for open-access publishing (Abidin et al., 2024; Awasthi et al., 2025; Irawan et al., 2022) and the development of open repositories (Lee-Hwa et al., 2013; Mostafa et al., 2024). However, such policy coherence, as seen in the EU and AU efforts to advance collaborative and regional-driven policy initiatives, remains underexplored in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). There is also a limited understanding of how ASEAN, as a regional bloc, supports open science in policy and practice. Thus, this presentation explores the current landscape of open science initiatives in the ASEAN region by addressing two questions: (1) How are ASEAN member states reflecting on the framework outlined in the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science? and (2) What are the current regional developments, including benefits, opportunities, and challenges, in shaping ASEAN open science policy? Using an exploratory review method, this study draws on peer-reviewed literature from Web of Science and Scopus, as well as grey literature from publicly available government portals and websites to identify emerging themes and patterns. This presentation aims to map the current landscape of ASEAN open science initiatives, highlighting the benefits, opportunities, and challenges, and revealing patterns of engagement and collaboration across ASEAN member states and their connection with other global actors in open science. The overall findings contribute to informing policy development and strengthening the ASEAN open science movement.