Applying and using the Recommendation.
First of all, every scientist, at least, and everyone interested in science, wether they work with scientists or use scientific results, or they are driven by an intellectual curiosity, should read the full text of the recommendation.
The Recommendation provides researchers, scientists and policy-makers with a set of international guidelines and values. As a UN-endorsed reference, it complements existing national and international codes of conduct, principles and guidelines around the ethics of research and development. Policy makers, and indeed scientists in every country, could check if the national laws take this recommendation into account (it should be a minimal level all over the world).
It would then give basic rules for important topics such as open access, open science, knowledge commons building and benefits-sharing.
The Recommendation also provides common global ground on the ethical principles of conducting science and the rights and responsibilities of scientific researchers. It is a clear statement of how the international community views science and scientific research and how it intends to implement a set of shared values.
This post is based on a text published by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
