International Open Access Week runs from 21-27 October, with a wide range of events geared towards encouraging the move to open scholarship that serve the best interests of the public and the academic community. An Otago-focused event, OA Opportunities @Otago, will be held on Tuesday, 22 October (details below).
Increasing access to scholarly research is the focus of International Open Access Week 2024, which starts on Monday.
With a theme of ‘Community over Commercialisation’, the event hopes to contribute to a growing recognition of the need to prioritise approaches to open scholarship that serve the best interests of the public and the academic community.
University of Otago Deputy University Librarian Cate Bardwell says open access is about more than increased visibility and citations.
“Open access supports equity of access to research outputs, increases the impact potential of research, and opens avenues for collaborations.
“It has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted.”
It also supports researchers’ digital sovereignty needs, she says, referring to the recent deal between Informa and Microsoft, where Microsoft was given access to Informa’s content to explore AI expert applications.
“Authors were not consulted, not given the opportunity to opt out, and will not receive any financial benefits for the use of their content.
When your work is open access, you typically retain more rights as an author, than when you sign copyright over to a publisher, and therefore have more control over your work.”
Otago is well-positioned to support its academics with open access publishing for manuscripts, journals, and even textbooks and monographs. A good place to start is OUR Archive, Otago’s institutional repository, Cate says.
“OUR Archive offers researchers the unique benefits of simultaneous preservation, access, promotion, networking, and usage tracking.
“The repository was recently revamped and now houses upwards of 40,000 of Otago’s research outputs, with more being added every day.”
Another option available in the open access domain is the Open Journal System (OJS), an open-source software platform for managing and publishing scholarly journals online.
Otago’s OJS service is open to departments keen on starting a journal or existing journals considering the shift to open access, Cate says.
“The OJS software assists with every stage of the refereed publishing process from receiving submissions through to online publication. Library staff are available to offer support as required.”
Copyright and Open Access Manager Richard White has looked at open access publishing from an Otago perspective, comparing average citation rates for Otago research behind paywalls and in a repository.
“Our research shows that publications in disciplinary or institutional repositories under Green Open Access have higher citation counts than paywalled articles.”
Comparing average citation rates for Otago research with Green OA and those behind paywalls.
Richard also works on the Open Textbook Project, an initiative of the Consortium of Australian University Librarians (CAUL), with about 30 universities taking part in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
“Open Education Resources (OERs) offer students free access to learning materials, with research showing OERs help improve grades, create deeper student engagement and support student retention.
“The CAUL OER publishing workflow accounts for quality control, with resources being peer-reviewed, and checked against inclusion, diversity, and accessibility standards.”
There are many high-quality resources already available covering a wide range of subjects, Richard says.
“You can also adapt or create your own open textbook, as several Otago academics have done already.”
Associate Dean Academic Lynnaire Sheridan
Otago Business School, Te Kura Pakihi Associate Dean Academic Lynnaire Sheridan is one such academic, who has published an open access human resource management health and safety textbook tailored to the Australasian context.
“Taking the open approach enabled me to draw in creative commons licensed audio-visual resources from across my career and create entirely new content that I can also share with the academic community.
“A highlight being the Global Business School Network promoting my book for supporting equitable access to work health and safety education for students across all business schools worldwide.”
Lynnaire is passionate about promoting the opportunities and benefits of open access.
“Open education is a philosophy.
“It embraces education as a social good with the power to the change lives of students and their whānau, while also promoting the potential for education to contribute to the broader social-economic development of communities, regions, and countries.”
To promote International Open Access Week 2024, the Library has organised a webinar for researchers and academics to learn more about open access publishing at Otago.
OA Opportunities @Otago is on Tuesday, 22 October – find out more.
Check out this website for a wide range of International Open Access Week events from around the world.
~ Kōrero by Sandra French, Adviser, Internal Communications