Beijing Declaration: Science community commits to keeping science open as geopolitics and AI reshape research

Scientists from 80 countries have adopted the Beijing Science Declaration, committing to open scientific collaboration and shared norms for AI in research.

BEIJING, CHINA, October 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Convened by the International Science Council (ISC) and the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), the Declaration sets out 18 commitments, from defending scientific freedom and establishing shared norms for AI in research, to rebuilding public trust and securing a stronger role for science in the next global sustainability agenda.

Safeguarding an open and cooperative global science system

The Declaration expresses concern that geopolitical shifts, unequal access to scientific resources, gaps in capacity and barriers to cooperation are straining the global science system. In response, signatories affirm scientific and academic freedom, including the right of researchers to cooperate internationally without discrimination or undue interference, alongside their responsibility to uphold research integrity and ethical norms.

They commit to strengthening global research networks and shared infrastructure, and to advancing open science and open data, with particular attention to capacity-building in under-resourced regions, so that no country or group is left behind.

Advancing responsible AI in science

The Declaration recognizes the major opportunities AI offers for research but warns that it may change the pace and paradigm of science itself. It notes that the consequences for researchers, and for knowledge as a public good, have been largely overlooked in global debates on AI.

Signatories commit to developing shared norms for AI in research, adapted to different disciplines while protecting intellectual property. The Declaration calls for AI governance grounded in scientific evidence, with the social sciences involved from the outset, and for international cooperation so that AI in science does not create new digital divides, a risk the ISC has been tracking in research systems - notably across under-resourced regions.

Strengthening science-society links and earning public trust

Recognizing that public trust can be eroded by misinformation and disinformation, but also by a science too often disconnected from society, the Declaration also turns the lens inward.

Signatories acknowledge that fragmented, siloed ways of working limit the public value of science, and that these patterns are reinforced by what science itself rewards. Realizing science as a global public good therefore calls for the scientific community to rethink its functions and responsibilities, and to value transdisciplinary, collaborative approaches in which research is co-designed with the communities it seeks to serve. The Declaration commits scientists to sustained multi-directional dialogue with the public, including marginalized communities, to communicating uncertainty openly, and to distinguishing clearly between facts, scientific judgments and value choices in public debate.

A place for science in the next global sustainability agenda

As the international community prepares a new sustainability agenda building on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Declaration calls for a “systemic, sustained and institutionalized place for science” in global agenda-setting and policy-making, with opportunities for young scientists to contribute.

With most Sustainable Development Goals off track, signatories note that the gap lies less in knowledge than in connecting it to action, and that science must be brought to the problem rather than left at the margins of decision-making. This calls for a strengthened science-policy-society interface and for science systems that support

Yevgeniya Tsoy
International Science Council
+33 1 45 25 03 29
zhenya.tsoy@council.science