International Open Access Week 2023
International Open Access Week is a week-long, international event in which the academic and research communities come together to discuss, increases awareness of, and encourage engagement with open access. This year's theme is "Community over Commercialization" Here's some information on this theme from the Open Access Week team:
“Community over Commercialization” is the theme for this year’s International Open Access Week (October 23-29). This theme encourages a candid conversation about which approaches to open scholarship prioritize the best interests of the public and the academic community—and which do not.
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 areas, we can achieve the original vision outlined when open access was first defined: “an old tradition and a new technology have converged to make possible an unprecedented public good.”
When commercial interests are prioritized over those of the communities that research seeks to serve, many concerning issues arise. Open Access Week provides an opportunity for individuals to discuss questions that are most relevant in their local context. These might include: What is lost when a shrinking number of corporations control knowledge production rather than researchers themselves? What is the cost of business models that entrench extreme levels of profit? When does the collection and use of personal data begin to undermine academic freedom? Can commercialization ever work in support of the public interest? What options for using community-controlled infrastructure already exist that might better serve the interests of the research community and the public (such as preprint servers, repositories, and open publishing platforms)? How can we shift the default toward using these community-minded options?
Selected by the Open Access Week Advisory Committee, this year’s theme provides an opportunity to join together, take action, and raise awareness around the importance of community control of knowledge sharing systems. Open Access Week 2023 will be held from October 23rd through the 29th; however, anyone is encouraged to host discussions and take action 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.
Past Events
SCU Open Access Week 2021
The 2021 International Open Access Week theme is “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” We’re looking for work that speaks to:
- the recently released UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science
- enabling fair and reciprocal sharing of scholarly inputs and outputs and equal access to knowledge
- how you’ve integrated open educational resources (OER) into your classes and the impact it has had on your students
- the idea of "embrac[ing] a diversity of knowledge, practices, workflows, languages, research outputs and research topics that support the needs and epistemic pluralism of the scientific [or scholarly] community as a whole,"
- any other work that speaks to the theme or idea of open access (OA) in general
The following presentations were held:
- Read & Publish, and Other Transformative Agreements
Speakers: Kalvin Van Gaasbeck - What the Heck is Open Data and What Can I Do with It?
Speakers: Andrew Carlos - 'Learn’ and ‘Teach’ International Business: Understanding Our World
Speakers: Dr. Long Le and Emma Pigott - You Mean the Whole World Can Read My Paper? Showcasing Student Work in Open Access
Speakers: Dr. Jackie Hendricks and Leanna Goodwater
SCU Open Access Week 2020
The 2020 International Open Access Week theme was “Open with Purpose: Taking Action to Build Structural Equity and Inclusion.” We asked for work that spoke to:
- how open access and/or open data creates a more just and equitable world
- how you’ve integrated open educational resources (OER) into your classes and the impact it has had on your students
- barriers to open access (i.e. when is making something “open” not enough?)
- any other work that speaks to the them
The following presentations were held:
- Co-creating an Open-Source Law School Casebook as a Path to Inclusive Pedagogy
Speakers: Michelle Oberman, David Ball, Christina Iriart (2L), Nathaniel Perez (2L), and Phillip Yin (2L)
Moderator: Lev Rickards - The system of scholarly communication through the lens of Jesuit values
Speakers: Shannon Kealey and Lev Rickards
Moderator: Anna Yang - Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice: A Multi-Authored Open Access Book from UC Press-Luminos
Speaker: Chad Raphael
Moderator: Summer Shetenhelm - Opening the Canon: Anthologizing Women’s Writing Online
Speakers: Amy Lueck, Catherine Cunha ’23, Mac Mann-Wood ’21, and Jessica Joudy ’21
Moderator: Summer Shetenhelm