Last month saw the sixth annual Open Access Week take place, and our colleagues at BioMed Central organised a number of events around the world to spread the word.
A study published in BMC Medicine at the start of the Open Access Week showed how open access publishing is becoming increasingly prevalent. The article received plenty of coverage, including a piece in UK newspaper The Guardian, which explained how the rise of open access is faster than anyone had previously realised. BMC Medicine hosted a Twitter chat at the end of the week to discuss some of the themes in the paper, as well as some of the wider issues surrounding open access publishing, and the authors of the study contributed to what was a very engaging discussion.
Coinciding with Open Access Week, the Irish Government announced plans to ensure that peer-reviewed journal articles and other research outputs resulting from publicly-funded research are made publically available. The mandate follows a similar proposal from the UK Government earlier this year and demonstrates the ever-growing support for open access to research.
Below is a roundup of some of the other open access highlights from the past month:
• Open Access Now
A new website showcasing relevant, curated news about open access and scholarly publishing was launched. Open Access Now will highlight work from the open web that is relevant and useful for those working in scholarly communications.
• Good practices for university open-access policies
The Harvard Open Access Project, an initiative to foster open access within and beyond Harvard, published a guide outlining good practices for university open access policies. The guide is published under a CC-BY licence, and as a wiki it is designed to continually evolve.
• Open access will change the world, if scientists want it to
The Conversation – an independent source of analysis, commentary and news from the university and research sector based in Australia – provides an excellent analysis of the growing movement by governments to make all publicly funded scientific research available to anyone.
Source: BMC
