International Open Access Week
Open Access Week (20-26 October) is a global event that highlights the benefits of Open Access and encourages the academic and research community to embrace it as the standard for sharing knowledge. Open Access means free, immediate, online access to research findings, along with the rights to use and reuse them. This approach has the potential to revolutionise research, benefiting academia, medicine, science, industry, and society as a whole.
This year’s theme, “Who Owns Our Knowledge?”, invites us to reflect on who controls access to education and research, how knowledge is created and shared, and whose voices are valued. It also explores how communities can reclaim ownership of the knowledge they produce, especially during times of disruption.
Open Access Week is an important opportunity to drive global efforts for open knowledge sharing, influence policy changes, and address social issues. In Queensland, it aligns with the principles of the Right to Information Act, which promotes the proactive release of government ‑held information unless there are valid reasons to withhold it.
