Posted October 22, 2018 by The Publication Plan Open access / open source

2018 International Open Access Week has arrived!

Today marks the beginning of the 11th annual International Open Access Week (October 22–28). Originating in 2007, as Open Access Day in the United States, the event has now grown into a week-long series of activities, conducted across the globe, aimed at advancing open access within the academic and research communities.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘designing equitable foundations for open knowledge’. With this theme in mind, discussions are likely to focus on the challenges to be addressed when striving to make open access equitable. For example, how can open access systems ensure inclusivity and meet the needs of a diverse global community? Might open access create or reinforce existing inequalities? Are there instances where open access may not be appropriate? This year’s theme highlights the importance of taking diverse perspectives into consideration when developing open access strategies, making the global nature of Open Access Week particularly valuable this year.

With numerous events, such as workshops, presentations, discussions and webinars, scheduled to take place both online and at local venues, worldwide, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved.

Planned events include:

A series of webinars and tutorials from OpenAIRE and FOSTER.
The live streaming of a preprint review, arranged by PLOS and PREreview.
An OpenCon satellite event hosted at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Numerous university-organised activities: this year the University of Oxford plans to release a newly digitised thesis by an eminent Oxford alumnus. In a similar move, the University of Cambridge made Professor Stephen Hawking’s PhD thesis freely available online for the first time during Open Access Week 2017.
Multiple screenings of the film, Paywall: The Business of Scholarship.