Open Access at the U of M

Open Science is all about opening up all aspects of research: publications, data, physical samples, and software to everyone, anywhere in the world. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) sees open science as a tool for reducing inequalities within and between countries. The General Conference of UNESCO adopted the Recommendation on Open Science at its 41st session on Nov. 23, 2021.

The University of Minnesota Libraries is committed to an open and diverse scholarly publishing system. We prioritize initiatives and publishing models that enable the University’s research to be freely available as a public good. Our statement, Towards Open Access at the University of Minnesota, outlines the principles and actions we stand by in our commitment to building a more open and equitable publishing system.

The University Libraries is getting ready to celebrate Open Access Week 2021! This year’s theme is “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” We’ll be sharing information here throughout the week of October 25, but you can plan ahead by registering for one of our workshops.

We're excited to share the latest set of open access publications from Libraries Publishing — everything from gardening to English music to a guide to good reasoning.

There are clear benefits to publishing open access, including increased reach and impact. Yet publishers often require authors to pay article processing charges (APCs) to make their articles open access. Now there's help to avoid or reduce these fees.

Social Sciences Librarian Amy Riegelman interviews Professor Gail Ferguson, Director of the Culture and Family Life Lab, in theCollege of Education and Human Development, about why she chose to publish in an open access journal.

One of the reasons people advocate for open access publishing is the idea that the article will receive more citations — and thus the author will be able to show a greater scholarly impact. Three University of Minnesota librarians decided to investigate whether the evidence supported this idea. They ended up winning a Medical Library Association Award for their work.

The phrase “Open Access” refers to published scholarly research — often shorter form articles or papers, but also longer form open monographs. By contrast, the phrase “Open Educational Resources” tends to be used to refer to open textbooks and other course materials like question banks, handouts, or worksheets.

Open access publications ensure broad access to research because open access publications can be read by anyone with an internet connection — free of any fee for the reader. At the Libraries, we have been providing infrastructure for open access projects, investing in collaborative projects on national and international scales, and supporting the University’s information needs on these topics for well over a decade.

As we continue our celebration of Open Access Week 2020, we move to an exploration of what COVID-19 has meant for scholarly publishing and open access. While Important research — including COVID-19 research — often is behind paywalls, there have been some promising developments over the last decade to make research more available. But more work is needed.

Open Access Week’s theme for 2020, “Taking Action to Build Structural Equity and Inclusion,” provides an opportunity to reflect on the value of information as a commodity. We will explore this issue in the context of the move towards electronic content and conglomeration of the publishing system.