There is a serious, systemic problem in scholarly publishing that disadvantages academic authors, their institutions, the global research community, and the general public. The problem stems from the subscription-based model of scholarly publishing, whereby publishers place academic journal articles behind paywalls so that anyone can’t pay can’t read them.
Open Access (OA) is a movement based on the principle that this situation is fundamentally unjust, and that the fruits of academic endeavor should be freely available to everyone. OA archiving and publishing are the two main strategies for accomplishing this goal, and they promise to benefit both the global research community and individual authors, moving published research into the open and thereby broadening its readership and generating more citations. OA is also fast becoming a requirement for recipients of research funding, as many public and private funding agencies are enacting public access policies to make the results of funded research accessible to all.
Open Access Week, Oct. 24-30, is an opportunity for the global research community to learn more about this important movement and the many ongoing efforts to make it the new norm in research and scholarship. To celebrate the occasion, FSU Libraries is hosting a number of workshops related to OA publishing, and we hope you’ll join us to learn more about OA and how it can benefit you as a student, teacher, or researcher. In addition, we’d also like to take this opportunity to highlight some important milestones in efforts to advance OA at FSU over the past year:
- The launch of DigiNole, FSU’s Research Repository, on a new, open-source software platform
- The adoption of a new Faculty Senate Open Access Policy by unanimous vote
- The adoption of a new University Public Access Policy for Research Publications
- The launch of Open Access @ FSU, a new website to support faculty participation in the Senate OA Policy
So, what can you do to advance the cause of OA and start taking advantages of the benefits it can bring to you as a scholar?
- Check out these short video interviews with FSU faculty: Xan Nowakowski, Mark Riley
- Come to one of our upcoming workshops to learn more about OA
- Read your publication contracts and understand your rights as an author
- Deposit your papers in DigiNole, FSU’s research repository
- Explore OA publication venues like the Public Library of Science
- Endorse OA on campus: talk about OA with your friends and colleagues, and consider signing an OA declaration
- Contact us to schedule a presentation on OA publishing for your next departmental meeting, graduate seminar, or campus event
For more information, see our research guide on Open Access, or contact Devin Soper, Scholarly Communications Librarian at FSU Libraries’ Office of Digital Research & Scholarship. And don’t forget to follow the conversation on Twitter! #OAweekFSU
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