by Caroline Winter | 27 January 2023 | English, Observations, Observations and Responses
The 15th annual International Open Access Week ran from October 24–30. This year’s theme was “Open for Climate Justice,” acknowledging that the widespread effects of climate change are experienced differently by different groups of people. One of the ways this injustice manifests is through inequitable levels of access to knowledge and information about climate change, so open access (OA) “can create pathways to more equitable knowledge sharing and serve as a means to address the inequities that shape the impacts of climate change and our response to them” (“Theme” 2022).
by Caroline Winter | 22 October 2021 | Community News, English, Observations, Observations and Responses
The 14th annual International Open Access Week runs from October 25–31, 2021, and this year’s theme is “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” This theme was chosen to align with the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science (see “UNESCO’s Recommendation on Open Science”), which “powerfully articulates and centers the importance of equity in pursuing a future for scholarship that is open by default” (Fandel 2021).
by Caroline Winter | 27 November 2018 | English, Observations and Responses
October 22 to 28, 2018, marked the 10th annual International Open Access (OA) Week. Founded in 2008 by SPARC and its partners, Open Access Week is now recognized around the world as an opportunity to start conversations about OA, plan collective action, and build a presence of OA in the scholarly community and beyond. This year’s theme—Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge—emphasizes the community-driven nature of the OA movement and the importance of local action.
by Britt Amell | 7 October 2025 | English, Insights and Signals Reports
Modern AI training bots are overwhelming open access repositories worldwide, potentially forcing institutions to choose between protecting their infrastructure and maintaining open principles. This insights and signals report offers a brief introduction to ‘bots,’ some of the issues they pose, as well as some early responses from the open access and open scholarship community.
by Britt Amell | 6 October 2025 | Community News, English, Observations, Observations and Responses
International Open Access Week 2025 (October 20-26) asks a critical question: “Who owns our knowledge?” This year’s theme challenges the scholarly community to examine not only who has access to research, but also how knowledge is created, shared, and valued. This report explores four key dimensions of the 2025 theme—control, creation, recognition, and access—while highlighting notable events and developments that illustrate how communities worldwide are working to ensure knowledge serves the common good rather than commercial interests.
