Open Access Week Preview

Organizations around the world are gearing up to celebrate Open Access Week, officially held Oct. 22–28, 2012. For most institutions, Open Access Week is a way to increase the visibility of open access among scientists, researchers, librarians, university faculty members, and students. At the same time, it also provides opportunities for open access practitioners to exchange knowledge and share ideas.

Open access means free, unrestricted access to and reuse rights for scholarly research, either through publication in open access journals or by posting copies of the peer-reviewed version of articles into open access repositories. This year’s theme for the week is Set the Default to Open Access, intending to make open access the norm in journal publishing rather than the exception. An increasing number of libraries, publishers, research funding agencies, NGOs, and other organizations are hosting workshops, speeches, and other types of events; launching advocacy campaigns; kicking off new initiatives; and participating in ongoing shows of support.

2012 marks the sixth year of Open Access Week. It was started in 2006 by SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition) of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), but it has broadened into a truly global event. This year, more than 100 countries will participate. While many participating organizations are academic libraries, international organizations such as the World Bank and the Food &Agriculture Organization will host events as well. The level and nature of organizations’ intended participation widely varies—several organizations have announced that they will be hosting an event or two, while others have a complete menu of events throughout the week...