Gear Up for International Open Access Week 2022!
The year 2022 is important for all scholarly publishing stakeholders, particularly because of the rollout of Plan S and the recent Nelson Memo by the US Office of Science and Technology Policy. The scholarly publishing landscape is likely to be transformed with the strengthened open access movement, with several novel and exciting opportunities opening up for academic journals, publishers, and societies. We’re therefore proud to be contributing to Open Access Week 2022.
What is Open Access Week?
Open Access Week is an annual event, celebrated every October since 2008. It is organized every year by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) in partnership with the Open Access Week Advisory Committee. Open Access Week is an opportunity for researchers, universities, research societies, and publishers to
- gain more in-depth knowledge about open access publishing systems, policies, and practices,
- share insights about open access publishing with wider audiences,
- brainstorm to resolve logistical, technical, legal, and financial issues related to open access scholarly publishing, and
- highlight their own contributions toward making research open.
What will happen this year?
Open Access Week will be held virtually from October 24 to 30, 2022. This year’s theme for Open Access Week is “Open for Climate Justice.” This theme is particularly relevant to scholarly societies and publishers, especially those publishers that are signatories to the United Nations SDG Publishers Compact, given their commitment to “actively promoting and acquiring content that advocates for themes represented by the SDGs, such as […] safeguarding and strengthening the environment.”
What’s in it for me and my organization?
We are excited to explore and share insights about how openness in science can drive climate justice. Here’s what you can look forward to:
- Live panel discussion: What can COVID-19 teach us about making research on climate change open access?
Join a group of industry experts as they discuss how lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic can apply to climate research. This session will explore the key drivers for making research on global crises open access, the process changes needed by publishers to implement open access policies for such topics in a sustainable way, ethical considerations, etc. Attendees can look forward to gaining a deeper understanding of how open access publishing can contribute to climate justice and what role publishers can play beyond just removing paywalls.
- Podcast: Global differences in open access adoption and their impact on scholarship/publishing
Our seasoned podcast host Nikesh Gosalia will chat about open access trends worldwide, along with a veteran of open access publishing. They will explore differences in mandates for open acess and how it is perceived across geographies, while providing suggestions for publishers on how to navigate these differences. The session will also describe how publishers can ensure that opportunities to publish climate research open access are equitable for scientists from different regions. Listeners will gain a more comprehensive view of open access publishing across the globe, as well as insights on how to work with researchers from different countries.
Open Access Week is an invaluable opportunity for research journals, societies, and publishers to showcase their contributions toward open access publishing as well as exchange knowledge around best practices. Impact Science has a number of other resources, updates, and discussions planned around Open Access Week too! Watch this space for more.
