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 | 6 January 2023 | English, Observations, Observations and Responses
In March 2022, Science Europe, cOAlition S, Open Scholarly Communication in the European Research Area for Social Sciences and Humanities (OPERAS), and the French National Research Agency announced the release of an Action Plan for Diamond Open Access (Ancion et al. 2022). This Action Plan includes recommendations for supporting and expanding the diamond model of open access (OA). Whereas gold OA refers to publications made openly available to read on journals’ websites (often, though not necessarily, supported by article processing charges or APCs) and green OA refers to publications made free to read through deposit in a repository, diamond OA refers to publications that are free for readers and for authors (see “What are the Different Types of Open Access” from Open Access Australasia).
by Caroline Winter | 9 December 2022 | English, Observations, Observations and Responses
On August 25, 2022, the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a memo called Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Researchand an accompanying media release. This memo, dubbed the Nelson Memo after Alondra Nelson, then acting Director of the OSTP, outlines public access (open access, OA) policy guidance for US federal agencies that fund research and development. Also released in August 2022 was the OSTP report Economic Landscape of Federal Public Access Policy, which examines potential economic effects of making federally funded research open access upon publication.
by Caroline Winter | 29 September 2022 | English, Observations, Observations and Responses
As discussed in the observation “Open Access Monographs,” published in March 2021, increasing attention has been paid in recent years to strategies for successfully publishing open access (OA) monographs and other long-form publications such as book chapters. Martin Eve and Anthony Cond described 2021 as “the year of the ‘starting pistol’” for OA books, with the release of Plan S guidelines for OA monographs, UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) new OA policy that for the first time applies to monographs, and the countdown to the UK’s next Research Excellence Framework (REF) (2021). This observation summarizes select developments related to OA monograph publishing over the past year.
by Caroline Winter | 15 July 2022 | English, Observations, Observations and Responses
In January 2022, the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) announced that the first phase of its efforts to decolonize the metadata in the Canadiana collections was complete. This three-phase project was initially set out as part of CRKN’s 2019–2024 Strategic Plan and falls under its first strategic goal, to “transform scholarly communication.” Specifically, CRKN aims to “lead by example by increasing the accessibility and decolonized discoverability of the dynamic Canadiana collections, ensuring that this unique content is available for research and personal use, now and for future generations” (CRKN 2019, 3).
