In this blog post, Repository Coordinator, Cat McManus reflects on Open Access Week 2024 and looks forward to things the Open Research team have planned in the coming weeks and months!
What do cyclone-chasing seabirds, public sanitation in London and customer service chatbots have in common?
They are all research topics via green open access and available to read in the Durham Research Online repository.
Green OA, or self-archiving, is when you post an early version of your manuscript in repositories or online without restricting information behind a paywall.
Since joining the Open Research Team six months ago, I’ve processed numerous academic records in WorkTribe, learned about various policies from the N8 Rights Retention Statement to the UKRI policy, and discovered the impact of AI on copyright legislation.
For Open Access week this time, the theme was Community over Commercialisation.Repository Officer Kelly Hetherington looked at previous projects when publishing academic works with no barriers benefitted the wider community. Open Access Coordinator Jennifer Palmer and I created a stand highlighting some of the resources and tools available.
Research Development Programme Sessions
We promoted our research development programme sessions targeting PGRs, early career academics and those looking to brush up on their pre-existing knowledge. Topics span from UKRI and longform publications to predatory journals.
Upcoming workshops in November which can be booked on Inkpath include:
- Open Access Publishing: the fundamentals and funding options (in-person)
- Writing a good Data Management Plan (DMP)
- Open Access Essentials: An Introduction for UKRI-funded PGRs
The full range of sessions is available here.
Open Climate Campaign
This year, we focused on the Open Climate Change Campaign, who promote open access to help accelerate progress for solving the climate crisis: https://openclimatecampaign.org/.
There are multiple recommended ways to get involved as a researcher, and the website recommends publishing your papers open access and depositing a postprint in an OA repository.
Tools for PGRs and researchers
The PGR Top Tips [PDF upload] and the Postgraduate Research (PGR) Support guide highlight information about a variety of services offered across the university.
Tools such as Unpaywall can be downloaded as a browser extension to help find the available versions of the records when searching for papers, and Open Access Button can help you to search and request for papers.
There are many ways to get involved in OA, promote your work and improve the accessibility of lifechanging research!
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