October 2023 Newsletter

What’s new in OA & scholarly publishing in Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand
What’s new in OA & scholarly publishing globally
Recent writing & resources on OA
Upcoming events in OA & scholarly publishing

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There is still time to register for our Open Access Week 2023 presentations & panels. Visit our website & events calendar to see what events are happening across Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand or choose from our session details below.

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What’s new in OA & scholarly publishing in Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand

Joint statement on ACS double-dipping

CAUL and Open Access Australasia have released a statement addressing a new approach to open access by the American Chemical Society which recently introduced an Article Development Charge. This raises concerns including undermining the transition to open access, double-dipping payments and the distinction between the costs covered by the ADC, as well as inhibiting equitable access. Read the full statement here. cOAlition S is also taking ACS to task on the new Article Development Charge in this blog post by Sally Rumsey.

Oz National Science & Research priorities submission

We have responded to the draft Australian National Science and Research Priorities. Open Access Australasia took this opportunity to advocate again for a national approach to open access and open science. Read our submission here.

What’s new in OA & scholarly publishing globally

Celebrating 5 years

To mark the 5th anniversary of Plan S, cOAlition S is hosting an online webinar

bringing together funders, researchers, and experts from the scholarly communication field to discuss how Plan S has developed, and the future future of scholarly communication. More information & registration.

Impact project

cOAlition S has launched a research project to assess the impact of Plan S on the global scholarly communication ecosystem. The scidecode science consulting group was appointed to run the project which will include quantitative econometrics and a qualitative methodology based on desk research, a comprehensive literature analysis, and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders including research funders, advocates for institutional Open Access initiatives, publishers and researchers. Findings and recommendations expected mid-2024. Read more.

TAROC initiative launched by CC

The Towards a Recommendation on Open Culture initiative is being led by

Creative Commons and is hoped to lead to the establishment of an international Recommendation on Open Culture, a companion to UNESCO’s recommendations on Open Education Resources and Open Science. TAROC is seeking to advance the declaration of cultural ministers at the 2022 UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development (Mondiacult), in which culture was recognised as a global public good. Read more.

CC gets funder support for preprints project

Creative Commons has announced new grant support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to help make openly licenced preprints “the primary vehicle of scientific dissemination.” The 18-month project is focused on significantly increasing use of the CC BY 4.0 license on preprints in the life sciences. Read more.

Call for input for Special Rapporteur

United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Alexandra Xanthaki will consider the right to access and take part in scientific progress in a report to the Human Rights Council next March. She is calling for input on issues such as

what participation means, what are possible limits to it, and how to ensure it in ways that complements scientific expertise, in the context of societies that are challenged by misinformation and disinformation. Read more.

Call for Proposals OR2024

The 19th International Open Repositories Conference will be held in Sweden next June with the theme of: Empowering Global Progress and is now open for proposals. More info.

Directors wanted at FORCE11

The FORCE11 Board of Directors is seeking several FORCE11 members to join the Board for a three-year term starting in Jan 2024. FORCE11 is a community of scholars, librarians, archivists, publishers and research funders actively working to improve research activity and transform scholarly communications. FORCE11 Members can apply here by 27 Oct.

Resources

OASPA Conference recordings available

Here are the recordings from this year’s OASPA Conference. There is a huge amount of thought-provoking content including a progress check on scholarly publishing with Peter Suber, and panel on overcoming obstacles in policy development.

We so loved open access: OA Pioneers

New OA book on the evolution of the OA movement from the perspective of those who were there – including our own Dr Ginny Barbour. Published as part of SciELO’s (Scientific Electronic Library Online) 25th anniversary, the authors share their experiences, successes, collaborations, and visions for the future. The ePub can be downloaded here.

New video from Think.Check.Submit.

This new (short) video outlines some key steps and considerations to help researchers assess whether a journal or publisher is suitable for their research.