Open and responsible research has the potential to profoundly alter the who, what,why, when and how of knowledge-creation. Yet it is not a destiny. The ways weimplement change today will have long-lasting consequences for the kind of openand responsible research ecosystem we inhabit tomorrow. For that future to be onemore equitable than today’s world, critical consideration must be given to the ways inwhich agendas of openness are shaped by those in positions of power and privilege,and might hence reflect or even reinforce global dynamics of inequity. ON-MERRIT is an EC-funded project to investigate dynamics of cumulativeadvantage and threats to equity in the transition to Open Research and ResponsibleResearch & Innovation (RRI) across a range of stakeholder categories (in particularfor those at the periphery) and multiple dimensions of Open Research, as well as itsinterfaces with industry and policy. Our results found many areas of concern, fromwhich we identified four key areas of risk: Resource-intensity of Open Research: Putting open and responsible research intopractice requires considerable resources (including infrastructures, services, andtraining). The structural inequalities that exist within institutions, regions and nations,and on a global scale, create structural advantages for well-resourced actors andstructural disadvantages for less-resourced actors, in terms of capacity and ability toengage in these practices. Article-processing charges and the stratification of Open Access publishing: Thearticle processing charge (APC) model within Open Access publishing seems todiscriminate against those with limited resources (especially those from less-resourcedregions and institutions). These facts seem to be having effects ofstratification in terms of who publishes where. Societal inclusion in research and policy-making: Open and responsible researchprocesses take place within broader social systems where inequalities continue tostructure access and privilege certain actors while others aredisadvantaged. Despitelaudable aims of equity, inclusion and diversity in open and responsible research, themost marginalised, vulnerable, and poor remain mostly excluded. Reform of reward and recognition: Institutional processes for reward and recognitionnot only do notsufficientlysupport the uptake of open and responsible research, butoften get in the way of them. This disadvantages those who wish to take up thesepractices (putting early-career researchers especially at risk).