Open Access Week: October 20–26

Each year, Open Access Week celebrates the potential benefits of transitioning research to Open Access (OA). This year’s theme, “Who Owns Our Knowledge?“ emphasizes the importance of prioritizing publishing models that benefit the scholarly community and the public rather than those that benefit commercial interests.

Here are a couple of quick resources to get you thinking about OA:

• Thought-Provoking Article: We encourage faculty to read an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education titled “Making Your Research Free May Cost You” (use this link to access the Chronicle through UST’s subscription to it if the direct article link is not working). The article discusses the NIH’s new policy requiring all federally funded research to be made publicly available as soon as it is published, and how in response, many publishers are forcing authors to pay large open-access fees—effectively shifting costs onto researchers. Some journals, especially those owned by major for-profit publishers like Springer Nature and Elsevier, have eliminated free “green” routes (e.g., a one-year embargo before public release) and now only offer open access via high article processing charges. Scholars who have uncertainty in their funding–especially in an era when policies governing federal grants and other research funding are rapidly changing–are concerned that steep publication fees will limit who can afford to publish in top-tier journals.
• Library Guide on Open Access: The UST Libraries have created a guide that offers information and resources about the library’s ongoing commitment to Open Access and its role in supporting OA initiatives.

Hopefully these resources contribute to an ongoing discussion of OA on our own campus and support UST’s collective efforts to promote accessible, community-driven scholarly publishing.