| | | | | | April 2026: What’s in this issueWhat’s new in OA & scholarly publishing in Australia & Aotearoa New ZealandWhat’s new in OA & scholarly publishing globallyRecent writing & resources on OAUpcoming events in OA & scholarly publishing
|
|
| | | | What’s new in OA & scholarly publishing in Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand |
|
| | OAA’s advanced course in open scholarship now open for registration.Course starts May 18 2026. Open to all staff at OAA member institutions, this course explores four key themes in open scholarship: bibliodiversity, Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Governance, rights retention and the impact of artificial intelligence on open scholarship. Debuting last year, this is the second time Part 1 has been offered, introducing the foundational concepts and some practical applications. Part 2 is planned for release later in 2026. Our original course OA101, Open Access, the basics, is accessible for members at any time. Please contact info@oaaustralasia.org for access information. *Please note that at this time both OAA’s online courses are available to Open Access Australasia members only. Access for members is free. Not sure if your institution is a member? Check our member list on our website Interested in joining OAA? See our member benefits and infographic Our Value and get in touch contact@oaaustralasia.org. |
|
| | | | | | | | Join the 2026 Open Access Week Planning Committee – EOIs open now!Open Access Australasia is excited to invite expressions of interest to join our 2026 Open Access Week Planning Committee. The committee will meet regularly to create and organise OAA’s events to celebrate OA week 2026, Oct.19-25. As members of the International Open Access Week organising group, we’ve been closely involved in selecting this year’s theme – a dynamic one with an engaging focus that will be released publicly very soon! |
|
| | | | Understanding the terms in a publishing contract – an OAA Member Forum event.June 24th 2026 11am AEST/1pm NZST Most of us – researchers and those who support them – don’t fully understand the publishing contracts we encounter. These agreements are often long, complex, and filled with legal jargon, with each publisher using its own version. This workshop is for researchers and support staff alike. We’ll dissect real publishing agreements, unpack their language, and clarify what rights remain for using and sharing the material. |
|
| | | | CAUL announces important milestone in Open Access publishing for Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.This month the the 100,000th Open Access article was published through a CAUL consortium agreement. “100,000 articles demonstrates real benefit not only to our university community, but to all of society by making research freely accessible to everyone and not just those with library access,” said Jane Angel, CAUL CEO. |
|
| | | | Registrations are now open for ResBaz Aotearoa 2026!ResBaz is a free, online, digital research skills workshop series designed to encourage the transfer of digital skills and methods at the heart of modern research. Over 40 workshops are on offer—everything from programming in Python to designing better posters—and participants are free to register for as many workshops as they’re interested in. |
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | AuSCCoP ASCILITE Australasian Open Educational Practice Special Interest Group gave an update to the group. The group discussed the advice and guidance currently being given to researchers about the use of GenAI in research. Members continue to contribute to the shared Glossary of scholarly communications terminology Members are also invited to add their ideas for the group to the feedback form. The group next meets on May 19 at 1pm AEST. If you’re interested in knowledge sharing, exchanging ideas, and connecting with colleagues in a friendly and supportive space, you’re very welcome to join the CoP. Meeting times for 2026 are listed here. AuSCCoP Diamond Open Access Publishing group. The second Diamond CoP for 2026 was held on April 16. Danny Kingsley (Deakin University) and OAA are organising an information webinar with the Open Journals Collective’s Tom Shaw, Library Engagement Lead – if you have specific questions for Tom, please add these to this form. Save the date: Insights from Canada’s Library Publishing Landscape, Thursday October 15 – 9:00am Brisbane / 10:00am Melbourne / 7:00am Perth / 12:00pm Auckland – details to be confirmed. Thanks to CAUL, CARL and PKP for supporting this webinar. Please add your diamond journal to our Australasian Diamond Discovery Hub and feel free to share resources, guidelines and websites for diamond here We welcome all new members. Details for joining the CoP and the meeting schedule for 2026 can be found here: how to join. The next meeting will be held on June 18 at 12pm AEST. AuSCCoP Repositories group Fiona Glasgow and Emma McLean from UNSW presented on their institution’s approach to rights retention. The group was invited to update their repository details in the major international directories. More information about the Repository group, dates for 2026 and how to join. The group next meets on May 12th at 12pm AEST. Aotearoa Scholarly Communications CoP This CoP consists of subgroups for open educational resources, open access, Open Journal Systems, research data management and research impact metrics. Information about all of the Aotearoa groups can now be found on OAA’s website find out more and sign up for meetings |
|
| | What’s new in OA & scholarly publishing globally |
|
| | South Africa and Australia embrace promising open science policies. SPARC interviewed Dr. Nokuthula Mchunu, manager of international collaborative research grants at the National Research Foundation in South Africa and Janet Catterall, program manager at Open Access Australasia about recent developments in open access and open science policies in their countries. Notably, the South African government approved a National Open Science Policy in December 2025. In Australia, the NHMRC announced an Open Science policy with MRFF in February and the ARC have recently revised their Open Access policy |
|
| | | | Trump administration withdraws appeal, securing historic victory for libraries and IMLSOn April 6, a federal court granted the Trump Administration’s request to withdraw its appeal of a federal judge’s earlier ruling that struck down the Administration’s dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the only federal agency dedicated to providing funding for the nation’s libraries. |
|
| | | | IOI is seeking new Steering Committee members. Nominate yourself or someone you know by 10 April, 2026. “Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI) is at an exciting inflection point, and we’re looking for new perspectives at the table. Our programmes are expanding, our funding model is evolving, and we’re exploring new organizational structures to support the next phase of our work. To guide this next phase of development and growth, we’re opening nominations for new members of our Steering Committee.” Emmy Tsang, Engagement Lead. |
|
| | | | DORA launch: Practical Guide for Research Funding OrganizationsReform of research assessment (RRA) is necessary to replace journal-based metrics that prioritize paywalled publications with incentives for open access, ensuring publicly funded research is accessible, equitable, and impactful. DORA continues to work towards RRA with the launch of A Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at Research Funding Organizations, a new resource designed to support funders in strengthening research quality, equity, and impact. The Australasia time-friendly event will be held Thursday, 14 May 2026, 14:00 AEST. |
|
| | | | | The Working Group Sustaining Infrastructures of the Barcelona Declaration examines how open infrastructures for research information can be sustainably supported across the research ecosystem. As part of this work, the Working Group is exploring different governance approaches, sustainability models, and forms of community engagement that underpin existing infrastructures. |
|
| | | | | Rethinking Open Science Through Dependency TheoryBy Batool Almarzouq. “Rethinking Open Science” argues that open science reforms recycle neoliberal extractive dynamics, preserving Northern-dominated rules and metrics that exclude Global South voices despite surface-level “openness.” It demands a radical reimagining beyond capitalism to create truly equitable knowledge systems. Food for thought! |
|
| | | | Evaluating Multilingual Metadata Quality in CrossrefAdebayo Olukoshi, Batool Almarzouq, Dennis Donathan II, Mike Nason, Marco Tullney, Julie Shi, and Juan Pablo Alperin. Scholarly research spans multiple languages, making multilingual metadata crucial for organizing and accessing knowledge across linguistic boundaries. These multilingual metadata already exist and are propagated throughout the scholarly publishing infrastructure, but the extent to which they are correctly recorded, or how they affect metadata quality more broadly, is little understood. |
|
| | | | | AI academic search needs better frameworks for understanding and evaluation. These three librarian projects are a startby Aaron Tay AI academic search tools need structured evaluation frameworks to move beyond vague warnings toward practical assessments for tasks like scoping reviews or teaching. Aaron Tay spotlights three librarian-led projects each dissecting architectures like RAG, reranking, and agents. This work clarifies tool differences, assumptions, and fit, essential as AI integrates into research workflows |
|
| | | | Introducing the Open Science plugin for AI platforms empowered by the OpenAIREAlien AI and OpenAIRE have joined forces to connect AI agents directly to the OpenAIRE Graph, transforming how researchers discover, review, and analyse scientific literature. You can choose which of these four OpenAIRE Graph community calls to attend. They are all evening AEST times and not too late. |
|
| | | | | AI & Open Access: Misconceptions, Opportunities, Risks.Generative artificial intelligence (AI) creates opportunities and risks for the scholarly communication ecosystem, especially in the context of open access publishing and platforms. In this webinar, three community experts will engage in a wide-ranging panel discussion about open access in the context of AI. Panelists will address common misconceptions about AI, explore ethical and human-centered applications of AI tools, and discuss key intersections between AI and OA in licensing, publishing, and libraries. |
|
| | | | | Open Science and disinformation with Sabina Leonelli and Richard WilliamsPhilosophy of open science can fight disinformation by making research processes transparent so the public better understands scientific claims. It calls for fair responsibility-sharing among governments, citizens, experts, and platforms, plus ongoing dialogue to balance openness with misinformation risks. |
|
| | | Upcoming events in OA & scholarly publishing |
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
