THE WEEK IN LINKS — SEPTEMBER 4
What has been happening in the world of Open Access in the last week?
Graham Steel, an Open Access Button user and a tireless advocate for Open Access talked with the Open Access Button team about why he believes that paywalls stifle innovation and progress in science. “At the very moment that most of us carry access to a global information network in our pockets, our ability to tap into the world’s knowledge is eliminated. And it’s not an accident. It’s on purpose.” Look for more conversations with Open Access Button users on our blog in the coming weeks!
The Open Access Week is rapidly approaching and many satellite events are starting to shape up. The FOSTER Project organised a training event for 100 PhD and early career researchers on Thursday 4th September 2014. Discovering Open Practices for PGR and Early Career Researchers explained the benefits of open access to research, data sharing, research data management and impact metrics. The Right to Research Coalition published a series of presentations from the event as well as a summary of relevant Open Access resources. Ideas, tips and questions for running a great Open Access Week event will be provided by The Right to Research Coalition on Friday September 19th, at 6PM GMT+1 through a webcast. Feel free to ask questions or leave comments.
The Open Access Publishing in European Networks (OAPEN) announced a pilot project in partnership with Jisc Collections. The aim of the project is to create a centralised service with UK universities in order to “support and encourage the publication of Open Access (OA) peer-reviewed monographs.”
Multiple UK medical research charities are joining forces in the launch of a new fund that will help make charitably funded research freely available as soon as it is published. The Charity Open Access Fund (COAF) is a partnership between Arthritis Research UK, Breast Cancer Campaign, the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and the Wellcome Trust.
Concerns persist over the announced publication of the journal Science Advances. After the publication of an open letter highlighting the journal’s problematic approach to open access, the introduction of a new FAQ created by the journal received a new wave of critical responses. It is now again pointed out how the AAAS has missed the opportunity to advance open access by applying fees that are “among the highest in the publishing industry”.
Finally, Puneet Kishor, the manager of science and data policy at Creative Commons provides an explanatory guide to the available licences considered ideal for creating Open Access research and science.
