Celebrate Open Access Week 2023

Following on from celebrating International Access to Information Day last month, OIC is gearing up to recognise Open Access Week from 23-29 October 2023.

Open Access Week is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in making Open Access Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research. The week is an opportunity to join others around the world to raise awareness about the importance of having community control of knowledge sharing systems. This year’s theme for Open Access Week is ‘Community over Commercialisation’.

It will be celebrated by individuals, institutions and organisations around the world as a chance to connect the global momentum toward the open sharing of knowledge, with the advancement of policy changes and the importance of social issues affecting people.

Openness can create pathways to more equitable knowledge sharing and serve as a means to address the inequities that shape societies and our response to them.

This year’s theme encourages conversations about which approaches are in the best interest of the public and academic community.

When commercial interests are prioritised over those of the communities that research seeks to serve, concerning issues and questions arise, such as:

• 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?

More information can be found on the international Open Access Week website.

OIC will be marking the occasion by raising awareness about open access issues, challenges and opportunities with staff and the community.

Look out for Open Access Week themed posts on our X/Twitter and LinkedIn platforms.