Promoting responsible practices in international research collaboration in a multipolar landscape

Over the last few years, just as the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the growing need for open international collaboration, increasing geopolitical tensions and politicization of research are leading to higher barriers for transnational scientific cooperation. These deteriorating conditions for inclusive cooperation may hamper both the general advancement of knowledge and, more pointedly, our ability to solve problems of global concern such as unprecedented challenges we face related to global health, food security, energy, biodiversity conservation, and climate. One main obstacle is how to foster international research collaboration with high standards of integrity when there are a range of variable norms and practices across science, and few authoritative binding requirements that span international borders. A deeper global dialogue is necessary to spell out who has the responsibility and authority to uphold scientific principles and implement necessary changes. In essence the research community need to take the ultimate responsibility for making sure that open collaboration will continue to be possible. However, the (geo)political context, and especially growing tensions between the world's super powers need to be considered.