Thursday, June 9, 2022 News

Theme for Open Access Week 2022: Open for Climate Justice

Open Access

“Open for Climate Justice” is the theme for this year’s International Open Access Week (October 24-30).Outlines of 4 unlocked padlocks over images depicting various impacts of climate change

Climate Justice is an explicit acknowledgement that the climate crisis has far-reaching effects, and the impacts are “not be[ing] borne equally or fairly, between rich and poor, women and men, and older and younger generations,” as the UN notes. These power imbalances also affect communities’ abilities to produce, disseminate, and use knowledge around the climate crisis. Openness 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.

This year’s focus on Climate Justice seeks to encourage connection and collaboration among the climate movement and the international open community. Sharing knowledge is a human right, and tackling the climate crisis requires the rapid exchange of knowledge across geographic, economic, and disciplinary boundaries.

International Open Access Week is a time to coordinate across communities to make openness the default for research and to ensure that equity is at the center of this work. Selected by the Open Access Week Advisory Committee, this year’s theme is an opportunity to join together, take action, and raise awareness around how open enables climate justice. Open Access Week 2022 will be held from October 24th through the 30th; however, anyone is encouraged to host discussions and take action around “Open for Climate Justice” whenever is most suitable during the year and to adapt the theme and activities to their local context.

For more information about International Open Access Week, please visit openaccessweek.org. The official twitter hashtag for the week is #OAWeek.

Translations of this announcement in other languages can be found at openaccessweek.org. Graphics for this year’s Open Access Week theme are available at openaccessweek.org.

About SPARC

SPARC is a non-profit advocacy organization that supports systems for research and education that are open by default and equitable by design. We believe everyone should be able to access and contribute to the knowledge that shapes our world. International Open Access Week was established by SPARC and partners in the student community in 2008. Learn more at sparcopen.org.

About International Open Access Week

Open Access Week is an invaluable chance to connect the global momentum toward the open sharing of knowledge with the advancement of policy changes and the importance of social issues affecting people around the world. The event is celebrated by individuals, institutions, and organizations around the world, and its organization is led by a global advisory committee. The official hashtag of Open Access Week is #OAweek.

Learn more about our work