Barriers and pathways for advancing open science and open scholarship in academic institutions: a Canadian perspective

Open science and open scholarship aim to make research more transparent, accessible, and reusable, yet adoption across Canadian universities remains uneven despite growing funder mandates and policy requirements. This paper examines the structural, organizational, and cultural barriers that impede widespread implementation of open science practices within academic institutions and proposes pathways for meaningful institutional transformation. Drawing on examples from multiple Canadian universities and using Concordia University as a detailed case study, we identify nine interconnected barriers spanning evaluation systems, researcher capacity, infrastructure, governance structures, and equity considerations. These include misaligned academic reward structures, limited researcher training, cultural resistance to data sharing, insufficient cyberinfrastructure, fragmented institutional responsibilities, inadequate frameworks for sensitive data, policy ambiguities, overreliance on libraries, sparse community engagement, and accessibility barriers. We argue that overcoming these challenges requires coordinated multilevel governance integrating top-down institutional leadership with bottom-up disciplinary engagement. The Concordia case demonstrates how combining grassroots researcher initiatives with administrative support can achieve system-wide policy change, culminating in the university’s unanimous Senate resolution on open science and open scholarship in May 2025. This framework offers a roadmap for Canadian institutions seeking to align their structures, policies, and cultures with expanding expectations for research transparency and openness.