Curated global dataset organizes open science initiatives worldwide
A curated global dataset of open science initiatives and policies
Databases
Summary
It is hard to compare different open science projects and policies because lists about them vary a lot in what they include and how they classify things. The authors created a carefully checked dataset called COSMI Hub that brings together these lists into one collection with detailed information about each initiative. This dataset has over 1,100 entries with details like location, themes, governance, and status. It helps people understand and analyze open science efforts globally, but it does not estimate the total number of projects in the world.
What this means in practice
- •For open science managers: Use the dataset to locate and compare policies and initiatives across countries for planning and collaboration.
- •For science policy analysts: Analyze thematic patterns and governance structures of open science initiatives for policy evaluation and development.
Authors
Abdelghani Maddi, Marc-Andr{é} Simard, Isabelle Dorsch
Abstract
Inventories of open science initiatives differ in scope, geographic coverage and classification, making it difficult to compare infrastructures, services, networks and policies. We developed COSMI Hub within the OPENIT project to bring these sources together in a curated dataset. The release archived on 8 October 2026 contains 1,186 records and 71 variables covering initiative identity, source provenance, geography, record level, operational status, thematic activities, governance, funding and external identifiers. We identified candidates through structured directories, policy documents, official websites and suggestions from the open science community, then checked identities, reconciled duplicates and assessed supporting evidence. The dataset distinguishes standalone initiatives, services, deployments, umbrella organisations and policy instruments. Records can be assigned several thematic dimensions, with uncertainty retained where evidence is incomplete. We describe the collection and coding methods, the data structure and file-level checks, together with considerations for reuse. The Zenodo release is fixed, whereas the companion dashboard is updated separately. Because we assembled the collection purposively, it cannot be used to estimate the worldwide number of open science initiatives.