As we approach Open Access Week 2024 (October 21-27), it’s crucial for researchers to understand the transformative power of Open Access (OA) publishing. This year’s theme, “Community over Commercialisation”, emphasises the collaborative spirit that drives research progress.
Open Access Week events at our library
To celebrate Open Access Week and provide valuable insights to our academic community, the Library is hosting a series of informative sessions. We encourage all researchers, faculty, and students to participate in these events. Click each heading below to see more details and register:
Session 1: An Overview of Open Access
Monday, October 21, 2024, 11:00 AM
Curious if Open Access is just a trend? Want to understand why publishing Open Access is beneficial for your research? Want to learn more about protecting your rights to your research? Join us for a brief presentation on these topics, followed by a Q&A session on all things Open Access.
Register here
Session 2: Open Access Publishing
Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 11:00 AM
This session will guide you through the different types of Open Access and how to find an Open Access journal to publish in. We’ll take an in-depth look at repository-based OA, showing you how to make your work open for free and providing an overview of repositories.
Register here
Session 3: An Introduction to Creative Commons Licensing
Wednesday, October 23, 2024, 11:00 AM
This session will demystify Creative Commons (CC) licenses, explaining their importance in making work truly open access. Learn about the differences between referencing and attribution, and explore the pros and cons of applying CC licenses to your research outputs.
Register here
Session 4: An Introduction to Open Educational Resources
Thursday, October 24, 2024, 11:00 AM
Discover how to enhance your teaching and save students money with Open Educational Resources (OER). This session covers what constitutes an OER, their benefits, and how to find, adopt, adapt, and create OER.
Register here
All presentations will be recorded. Register for the events to get early access to the recordings before they are published on the website.
What is Open Access?
Open Access refers to the free, immediate, online availability of research articles, coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment.
Key benefits of Open Access
- Increased visibility and impact: OA publications are freely available to anyone with an internet connection, potentially increasing readership and citations.
- Accelerated discovery: OA speeds up scientific progress by allowing faster dissemination of research findings.
- Enhanced collaboration: Researchers from diverse backgrounds can access and build upon each other’s work more easily.
- Global equity: OA reduces the knowledge gap between high and low-income countries by providing equal access to scholarly literature.
- Public engagement: Taxpayer-funded research becomes accessible to the public, fostering trust and understanding in research.
Important considerations for researchers
- Types of OA: Understand the differences between Gold, Green, and Diamond OA models.
- Article Processing Charges (APCs): Be aware of potential costs associated with publishing in some OA journals.
- Predatory publishers: Learn to identify and avoid questionable OA journals that prioritise profit over academic integrity.
- Funder mandates: Many funding bodies now require OA publication of research outputs.
- Copyright and licensing: Familiarise yourself with Creative Commons licenses and their implications for your work.
- Rights retention: Understand your rights as an author and consider strategies to retain more control over your work, such as negotiating publication agreements or using rights retention policies.
- Institutional repositories: Explore options for self-archiving your work in Charles Sturts’ repository, CRO.
We hope to see you during Open Access Week to learn more, or contact your Library faculty team anytime.