International Open Access Week

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By: SPARC

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Chealsye Bowley
Ilana Melka
Karl Patton
Nick Shockey

Latest from International Open Access Week

The 2023 International Open Access Week theme, “Community over Commercialization,” resonated with researchers, advocates, students, funders, and people around the world interested in advancing open scholarship in the public interest. There were meaningful conversations about what individuals and communities need to do to ensure community values are at the center of disseminating critical knowledge.To illustrate…

The open access movement was launched with the bold vision of “uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and quest for knowledge.”[1] When the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) first defined open access (OA) in 2002, we suggested that “an old tradition and a new technology have converged to make possible an unprecedented public good.”[2]…

This year’s International Open Access Week theme, “Community over Commercialization,” highlights the urgency of addressing this central tension in the transition to open systems for research. This week, important conversations will take place around the world exploring which approaches to open scholarship prioritize the best interests of the public and the academic community, which do…

Adopted by its 193 Member States, the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science highlights the need to prioritize community over commercialization in its calls for the prevention of “inequitable extraction of profit from publicly funded scientific activities” and support for “non-commercial publishing models and collaborative publishing models with no article processing charges.” By focusing on these…

International Open Access Week 2022 and its theme of “Open for Climate Justice” created new connections between the open knowledge and climate movements. Advocates around the world launched tools and resources, announced new initiatives, published theme-related articles, and discussed how open knowledge can advance Climate Justice.Here is just a sample of the actions taken, collaborations…

Today kicks off this year’s International Open Access Week with its theme of “Open for Climate Justice.” This year’s theme builds on the important previous Open Access Week discussions centered around knowledge equity. Climate Justice is an equity issue, and “Open for Climate Justice” explores the ways openness can create pathways to more equitable knowledge…

This year’s theme intentionally aligns with the recently released UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, of which Open Access is a crucial component. Circulated in draft form following discussion by representatives of UNESCO’s 193 member countries, the Recommendation powerfully articulates and centers the importance of equity in pursuing a future for scholarship that is open…

Openness can be a powerful tool for building more equitable systems of sharing knowledge. Rebuilding research and scholarship to be open by default presents a unique opportunity to construct a foundation that is fundamentally more equitable. Yet today, structural racism, discrimination, and exclusion are present and persistent in places where openness is a core value.…

As the transition to a system for sharing knowledge that is open by default accelerates, the question “open for whom?” is essential—both to consider and to act upon. Whose interests are being prioritized in the actions we take and in the platforms that we support? Whose voices are excluded? Are underrepresented groups included as full…