Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers

Revised Recommendation

A revised Recommendation was adopted by the General Conference at its 39th session, superseding the 1974 text. Its name is also revised, to become the Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers.

Read the revised Recommendation
also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish

The UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers is an important standard-setting instrument which not only codifies the goals and value systems by which science operates, but also emphasizes that these need to be supported and protected if science is to flourish.

The Recommendation was adopted on 13 November 2017. It supersedes the Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Researchers (1974). The 39th General Conference by its resolution 85 significantly expanded the scope and reach of the former recommendation, and added a four-yearly monitoring procedure, inviting the Member States to focus their implementation on '10 key areas' when they report on implementation in the second quarter of 2021.

This Recommendation has a particular value today, including for developing countries in building up their scientific skills and institutions. For these, it provides a useful checklist of political and institutional requirements.

The Recommendation promotes a fair and appropriate status of scientific researchers and informs adequate national science, technology and innovation policies, and policies to ensure that societies use knowledge from all scientific fields in a responsible manner.

The Recommendation also indicates how, in principle, this can be achieved. For example, it stresses the importance of two issues:

the need to ensure the free circulation of scientific data, and
the need to provide scientists with adequate financial and institutional support.

The implementation of the Recommendation in Member States is monitored by the UNESCO governing bodies. Every four years, the Secretariat of UNESCO collects information from Member States, in consultation with other partners.

Monitoring of the implementation of the Recommendation (2017)

The first consultation on the implementation of the 2017 Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers will take place between 2020 and 2021, covering the period from 2017 to 2020. It will result in national reports that will be examined by the Executive Board and then by the General Conference.

Read the consolidated report on the implementation by Member States of the 2017 Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers (41 C/36)
Read the report on Implementation of the 2017 Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers: preparation for the next consultation
also available Arabic, French, Russian and Spanish
Read the Report on the Future Monitoring of the Recommendation
also available in French
Read the 10 key areas of the Recommendation
also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish
See the call for advice

Information on implementation of the prior Recommendation (1974)

A consultation on the implementation of the 1974 Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Researchers took place from 22 December 2016 to 22 May 2017. It resulted in a consolidated report covering the period from 2013 to 2016, which was submitted to the 202nd session of the Executive Board, and subsequently to the 39th session of the General Conference.