The declaration was launched in 2024 and now has more than a hundred signatories, including universities, research funders and scientific organisations worldwide. The initiative focuses specifically on research metadata: the underlying information that tracks what is being published, by whom, and how it all relates to each other. This information forms the basis for bibliometric research, research evaluation and policy, and is currently largely in commercial hands.
Less dependent on publishers for your own research data
When you publish an article, all kinds of information about that article is recorded: who wrote it, where it was published, how often it has been cited, which project funded it. This information is currently largely locked in with major commercial publishers. Universities therefore not only pay for access to articles, but are also dependent on companies for basic information about their own research.
The Barcelona Declaration advocates for information about research, who published what, where, and with what funding, to be freely available to everyone, rather than serving as a revenue model for a publisher.
For researchers, not much will change in the short term. But it is a signal that the way we share and manage research information is slowly shifting, in a direction that gives researchers more control. Also see the full announcement of the collaboration.