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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
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Contributions to the newsletter or the blog, especially notice of upcoming events, are welcome. Contact us here. If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you’d like to receive it directly, please sign up |
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What’s new in OA & scholarly publishing in Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand |
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| Open Access Australasia goes mobile!OAA’s website has recently been refreshed and streamlined to provide a more intuitive and user-friendly experience. The update also significantly improves functionality and accessibility on mobile devices and tablets, making it easier to navigate and use the site across all platforms and on the go! Let us know what you think! |
| | | Open Access Australasia new online course open August 11th!OA201 – our advanced course in open scholarship- will be presented in 4 modules tracing 4 main themes: Bibliodiversity: an essential ingredient for open scholarship. Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Governance: redefining assumptions behind open scholarship. Rights retention: the cornerstone of open scholarship. Artificial intelligence: implications for open scholarship.
These 4 dimensions reflect both the promise and complexity of openness—balancing accessibility and innovation with responsibility and equity. The modules will explore the dynamic interplay between openness, diversity, rights, and technology, and how these elements are collectively shaping the future of scholarship. Module 1, The bigger picture for Open Access goes live August 11 2025. It introduces the 4 themes, providing definitions, background and context. A launch event is being held on August 7th at 1pm AEST/ 3pm NZST Please note that at this time both OA101 and OA201 are available to Open Access Australasia members only. Access for members is free. Interested in joining OAA? See our member benefits and infographic Our Value and get in touch contact@oaaustralasia.org |
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First OAA Member Forum: Strategies for rights retention. |
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In response feedback in a recent member survey, OAA is launching a new quarterly member-only forum. This exclusive forum is designed for OAA members to come together in a supportive ‘learning circle’ format, fostering meaningful discussions and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. Our goal is to equip attendees with practical takeaways and strategies that can be applied directly to daily work. Our inaugural session will be held August 26th at 12pm AEST/2pm NZST and is open to member staff seeking guidance, ideas, and peer support around rights retention. Whether you’re new to this issue or looking for proven strategies, this session will offer practical insights from across the community. Emma McLean and Paula Callan will share experiences from UNSW and QUT and Richard White will offer legal perspectives from Aotearoa. There will be focused activities in discussion group format facilitated by our speakers and members of the OAA Executive Committee. The aim is to co-create a practical checklist for supporting authors, researchers and support staff which participants will be able to take back and share immediately with their institutions. Image Credit: Andrea De Santis via Unsplash. |
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Empowering sustainable open infrastructure: Welcoming new SCOSS members for 2024/25 |
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Open Access Australasia is pleased to host its annual webinar to showcase the SCOSS pledges for 2024/2025. Now in its sixth year, SCOSS is excited to announce the four new Open Science infrastructure partners that will join the SCOSS Family. After careful evaluation, SCOSS has selected the African Journals Online (AJOL), Episciences, Make Data Count and SciPost for this sixth funding cycle. These organisations are seeking help in both creating and maintaining sustainable futures. |
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Australian and New Zealand universities join forces to negotiate landmark open access deals “Universities across Australia and New Zealand are teaming up to strike a better deal on open access research publishing, in a bold new approach to negotiations with the world’s largest academic publishers. Led by the Council of Australasian University Librarians (CAUL), Universities Australia and Universities New Zealand – Te Pōkai Tara, the sector will take a unified position in upcoming negotiations with Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and Taylor & Francis.” |
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News from the Australian Research CouncilThe Australian Research Council (ARC) has announced important updates on its approach to research evaluation and the launch of its Persistent Identifier (PID) Action Plan. The ARC welcomes feedback from the research community and stakeholders to help shape and refine these important initiatives. For more details, please see the ARC’s Research Insights Capability draft and the PID Action Plan. |
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Examining options for enhancing repository infrastructure in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.Location: Kelvin Grove Campus, Queensland University of Technology – Brisbane. Date: 9.00am – 4pm Friday 17 October 2025. The aim of this meeting – a free satellite event of International Data Week– is to review a variety of models including shared infrastructure for institutional repositories; discuss the potential for this type of approach in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand; and examine the various issues that must be navigated/addressed to move forward. Kathleen Shearer of COAR and Martin Borchert of UNSW/CAUL will facilitate this event hosted by Open Access Australasia, COAR, UNSW and QUT, which will feature speakers from Canada, France, Spain, Japan. |
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In this guest post, Donna Coventry and Luqman Hayes discuss the value of Tuwhera, an open access platform supported by Research Services and Digital Development teams at Te Mātāpuna Library & Learning Services at AUT (Auckland University of Technology) in Aotearoa, New Zealand. |
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Resources from ResBaz Aotearoa 2025 now availableResources including slides, recordings and online lessons now available from Research Bazaar Aotearoa 2025. |
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AuSCCoP The Australian Scholarly Communications Community of Practice (AuSCCoP) welcomes Tracey Cunningham from UTS as a third convener for the group while one of the current conveners is on extended leave. Thanks for stepping up Tracey! Next meeting will be Thursday August 14th. More information and how to join AuSCCoP Diamond Open Access Publishing group. At the last meeting on June 19th Hamid Jamali, Simon Wakeling and Edward Luca presented an update from their research on the sustainability of Australian journals; Max Sullivan and Nik Crombie from Victoria University of Wellington presented a Lightning Talk: 10 Years Supporting OJS and Diamond Journals. Summaries can be found in the groups notes. The group next meets August 21st. More information about the Diamond Publishing group and how to join. AuSCCoP Repositories group At the last meeting co-convener Sarah Brundrett gave a fascinating take on repositories and cybersecurity. Slides from the talk are available on zenodo. The group next meets September 18th. More information about the Repository group and how to join. Aotearoa Scholarly Communications CoP Information about all six of the Aotearoa groups can now be found on OAA’s website find out more and sign up for meetings The subgroups will be reporting on their activities to the main CoP later in the year. |
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What’s new in OA & scholarly publishing globally |
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The Principles of Open Science MonitoringTo effectively implement the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, transparent and representative monitoring systems are essential to guide progress and identify priority gaps. The Open Science Monitoring Initiative (OSMI), developed through international collaboration and extensive expert consultation, has published a set of globally agreed-upon Principles of Open Science Monitoring. These Principles emphasize relevance, transparency, reproducibility, and responsible self-assessment, aiming to provide an adaptable and aspirational framework for open science monitoring worldwide. |
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SPARC responds to problematic language in FY26 house appropriations report that could undermine open access and author rightsProblematic wording has been inserted into the FY26 House Appropriations Report that could restrict immediate and free public access to federally funded research as mandated in the Nelson Memo, potentially undermining OA policies and authors’ rights. The new language includes phrases suggesting that open access mandates “may restrict where authors can publish” or that authors should not be “dictated to or mandated where to publish.” It states that policies should “respect author choice on where to publish” and warns against restrictions that “limit author rights” or impose “unnecessary constraints on publishing venues.” In immediate response, SPARC has written a letter urging lawmakers to reconsider this language to protect the progress made in ensuring transparent, equitable, and author-friendly public access to research outputs. |
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“The aim of this study is to characterise different approaches to open licensing of digital cultural heritage and assess the role that these approaches are playing for CHIs and their various funding models…Overall, we find that open licensing offers significant opportunities to the GLAM sector. These opportunities are not equally distributed and depend on the national context as well as the sectoral position of each institution. In most cases, opportunities from open licensing remain under-exploited, with scope for greater benefits to accrue from appropriate strategic investment.” |
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Deakin University’s July 29th library blog discusses the ethical concerns surrounding AI and Generative AI, particularly relating to inherent biases affecting Indigenous knowledges. The article highlights the importance of addressing these biases through culturally-informed approaches and safeguards that respect Indigenous data sovereignty and ethical use of Indigenous knowledge. It calls for careful consideration of how AI tools are developed and used to ensure they support rather than distort Indigenous worldviews and research practices. |
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‘Positive review only’: Researchers hide AI prompts in papersShogo Sugiyama and Ryosuke Eguchi for Nikkei Asia Research papers from 14 academic institutions in eight countries — including Japan, South Korea and China — contained hidden prompts directing artificial intelligence tools to give them good reviews. |
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AI ‘scientists’ joined these research teams: here’s what happenedBy Nicola Jones “Emerging ‘co-scientist’ systems use chatbots to mimic the deliberations of a research group. Nature asked researchers to test them out.” |
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The Zombie Scientific Archive: How AI-generated content and misinformation are corrupting online academic resources, creating a “zombie” internet where errors and fake science perpetuate. By Claudia Civinini “According to the Thales Bad Bot Report, automated traffic surpassed human activity in 2024 for the first time in a decade, accounting for 51 percent of all web traffic.” |
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The Directory of Open Access Journals’ Joanna Ball shared updates from the DOAJ for the Australasian library community, offering insights into current work and the role libraries can play in advancing equitable scholarly publishing. |
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Research Support Community Day 2025 recordings now availableThe annual event is aimed at library staff with an interest in research support and services. This year’s event addressed a wide range of issues including research integrity and ethical practices, open access and scholarly publishing models, fostering research impact and equity, the role of artificial intelligence in research support, innovative service delivery and support models, data infrastructure for sensitive and mobile research data, and community collaboration and skill-building within the research support sector. If you missed it or any of the sessions you can catch up now. |
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eLife Community Voices: John WillinskyJohn Willinsky, founder of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) who developed the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform, recounts his journey from schoolteacher to open access pioneer. |
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IP ProvocationsFrom 2023, the IP Provocations podcast from Melbourne Law School, hosted by Professors Rebecca Giblin and Kimberlee Weatherall, explores critical and sometimes controversial issues in intellectual property law. It examines how patent systems shape society, including topics like inequality, First Nations innovation, and social justice, questioning whether current IP laws truly foster innovation or tend to maintain existing power structures and reinforce established hierarchies of influence, economic benefit, and access to opportunity. |
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Upcoming events in OA & scholarly publishing |
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