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 not, and what action can be taken by individuals and organizations.
In the months since it was announced, the relevance of this year’s theme has continued to increase. While there have been developments that tilt toward commercialization (from acquisitions to the invention of new author-side publishing fees), the past year has seen notable shifts toward prioritizing community interests.
There have been high-profile shifts by governments toward repository-focused funder open access policies (including by the G20, U.S., and Europe, complementing Latin America’s long history of leadership in repositories), and there is real momentum building for equitable options that decision makers can say yes to. Subscribe to Open is growing as a bridge for community-minded publishers to transition to Open Access, and more editorials boards are exercising their power to take back control of their journals. Demonstrating this momentum, this week will even feature a summit on diamond open access publishing.
To better surface how organizations reflect a commitment to “Community over Commercialization” in their own work, a series of profiles are available on the Open Access Week website that showcase the many ways communities can be prioritized in the shift to open research.
This week provides an opportunity to join together, raise awareness around the importance of community control of knowledge sharing systems, and take action—over the coming days and year-round. Participate in the discussion online using the hashtag #OAweek, and if you’re not already joining an event this week, consider taking part in one of the many locally organized discussions below.
A Selection of Locally Organized Open Access Week Events
Monday, October 23
- Global Summit on Diamond Open Access (in-person)
- Rights retention: maintain your rights to advance open science (online)
Tuesday, October 24
- Current Trends in Academic Publishing: Diamond Open Access Journals and the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy (online)
- Community over commercialisation – What is community control and why does it matter? (online)
- The Price is Right: Open Access Edition (in-person)
Wednesday, October 25
- Retain your copyright and share your articles freely with the Rights Retention Strategy, in 15 minutes (online)
- Like an open book: can academic communities ensure our voices are heard by all? (online)
- To flip or not to flip: practical example, the Swiss Journal for Special Education goes Open Access (online)
- Open Science for Enabling Reproducible, Ethical and Community-driven Research (online)
- Community over Commercialization: Why Choose to Publish Open Access, an Open Access Week Panel (online & in-person)
- Open Science Night 2023 – open event for the International Open Access Week “Community over Commercialization” (in-person)
Thursday, October 26
- Open Access Journal Editors Panel: Fostering Community (online and in-person)
- Imaging Neuroscience & community over commercialization: An OA week panel (online)
- Infrastructure for Diamond Open Access: From Library Publishing to the Foundation of a University Press (online)
- Shine on Diamond journals: making sure they’re forever (online)
- Open Science and Innovation in Ukraine 2023 (online)
- Advancing Research Visibility through National Portals: Insights from Spearheading Institutions (online)
Friday, October 27
- Creating space for Indigenous and Pacific research (online)
- Community over commercialisation – Open Science, Intellectual Property and Data (in-person)
- Open and Engaged 2023: Community over Commercialisation (online and in-person)