Open Access Publishing

Open Research is a new way of working which supports researchers all round the world to store, share and reuse their outputs with the wider community. This means everyone can access insights and knowledge much sooner, helping to advance research and support reproducibility. Find out more about what Open Research is, and why we’re supporting it: https://wellcome.ac.uk/open-research.

The Open Research Toolkit contains information, resources and good practice examples related to all aspects of open research, including policy, governance, pathways and processes. It also includes resources for individual researchers interested in engaging in open research practices and training materials for support services fostering open research within their organisations.

The Open Research Toolkit was created by the Open Research Working Group, comprising representatives of the Australasian Research Management Society (ARMS) and the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL). The Toolkit supports Australasian institutions to implement or further develop open research policy, strategy and practice.

During the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) General Conference held 9-24 November 2021, members agreed on a new Recommendation on Open Science.

This Recommendation outlines:

• A common definition for open science
• Core values and guiding principles for open science
• Recommendations for priority areas of actions

Response from Open Access Australasia and CAUL:

"The adoption of the UNESCO Open Science Recommendation at the 41st Session of its General Conference this week in Paris is a strong global signal of the importance of a coherent approach to open science. Open science is an inclusive and ambitious endeavour, needed for equitable access to knowledge. The UNESCO Recommendation explicitly recognises the breadth of open science and the importance of each of its components including open access to research, open data, open educational resources, open source software, source code, and hardware".

See more at: Open Access Australasia and CAUL support the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science

Response from IFLA:

So what does this mean for libraries?

• First of all, there is the welcome recognition of the role and contribution of librarians in advancing towards achieving Open Science. This is not just through the explicit reference that there is, but also tasks which usually fall to libraries or library-related organisations to carry out, such as preservation.
• Secondly, there is the call on governments, institutions, and funders alike to work on their own strategies and statements, in order to reinforce the message from UNESCO, while also adapting to local circumstances. Libraries are well placed to engage in the preparation of such documents, where they have not already done so.
• Third, the Recommendation’s clear points about copyright exceptions, as well as the need to watch out for and counter market failures can support wider library advocacy. So too can the recommendation to increase research finding and investment in Open Science infrastructure.
• Fourth, there is the strong recognition of the importance of repositories is welcome, as well as the emphasis on ensuring that these are interoperable – an area where the library field has a significant and growing expertise.

We therefore encourage you to take a look at the Recommendation, and think how you can use it in  your own planning and advocacy.

From: UNESCO Agrees Open Science Recommendation – Implications for Libraries – IFLA

Response from Australia's Chief Scientist:
How the United Nations’ new ‘open science framework’ could speed up the pace of discovery