Celebrated since 2007, what started as Open Access Day but quickly became International Open Access (OA) Week draws attention to digital scholarship and data that are freely available to read, reuse, and share with anyone in the world without permission from or payment to the copyright holder. The OA movement emerged about 20 years ago in response to the advent of the internet, which enabled anyone with internet connectivity access to digital content, and to the unsustainable rise in scholarly journal costs. To date, approximately 28% of all journal articles are freely available online (Piwowar et al. (2018). The state of OA: a large-scale analysis of the prevalence and impact of Open Access articles.) Clearly, open access to research is steadily growing.
The Mississippi State University Libraries joins libraries and other organizations throughout the world in educating their communities about the benefits of publishing open access, using open textbooks in instruction, and sharing data. During OA Week, information tables will be set up in each MSU library where you can stop by and find out more about how open access to research affects you—both personally and professionally. The following events will be held at MSU during OA Week to highlight the important work our community and others are engaged in to make research and data open and available to all.
Monday – Friday, October 22-28, Information tables
Mitchell Memorial Library, Old Main Library, College of Veterinary Medicine Library, Bob and Kathy Luke Architecture Library, Phil Hardin Foundation Libraries (Meridian), and Gertrude C. Ford Foundation Library (Jackson)
Come to a group screening of the recently released Paywall: the business of scholarship documentary to be held Monday, October 22, from 3:30-5:00 in Old Main, room 1220. Paywall focuses "on the need for open access to research and science, questions the rationale behind the $25.2 billion a year that flows into for-profit academic publishers, examines the 35-40% profit margin associated with the top academic publisher Elsevier and looks at how that profit margin is often greater than some of the most profitable tech companies like Apple, Facebook and Google.” The film is about an hour long and there will be a brief discussion following.
A faculty panel will be discussing experiences with publishing in open access journals on Wednesday, October 24, from 4:00-5:00 in Mitchell Memorial Library, ELI computer lab. Register for Outside the Box: making a broader impact with your research via the CTL events page https://www.ctl.msstate.edu/events/. Faculty participants include Hossam Abdelhamed (CVM), Jenny Du (ECE), Keith Moser (CMLL), and Heidi Renninger (CFR). Here’s a brief description of the topic:
“Curious about how publishing in freely accessible journals could be beneficial to you? A panel of MSU faculty will share their experiences with selecting and publishing in peer-reviewed open access journals. Learn the pros and cons of this choice, how these journals measure up to traditional publishing in their disciplines, and how promotion and tenure criteria could reward publication in open venues.”
For additional information about open access publishing, author rights, copyright, MSU's institutional repository, open educational resources and more, please contact Claudia Holland (cholland@library.msstate.edu, 662-325-8548).
