UCSF Library Celebrates Open Access Through October 30
Memers of the UCSF community are invited to stop by the information table in Saunders Court on Thursday to learn more about the University's participation in Open Access Week.
The UCSF Library is involved in Open Access Week, a worldwide event now in its fifth year to give the academic and research community an opportunity to learn more about the potential benefits of offering free and timely access to scholarly publications.
“Open Access” to information — the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as needed – has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry results are shared.
Open Access is entirely compatible with the peer-review process and has direct and widespread implications for academia, medicine, science, industry, and for society as a whole to learn and benefit from the plethora of published literature.
Open Access — a global movement started by students that gained momentum with the advent of the digital age — encourages scholars and scientists to share what they’ve learned with colleagues and to help inspire wider participation to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research.
Open Access is championed by scholars such as UCSF Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, now director of the National Cancer Institute. Varmus, who shared the Nobel prize with J. Michael Bishop, MD, chancellor emeritus, has been an unparalleled leader in promoting Open Access in several ways, from introducing the topic of wider access and launching PubMed Central to increase public access to the literature, to helping to found the Public Library of Science, one of the world’s leading open-access publishers.
To hear Varmus talk about the importance of Open Access, view the video here.
Maximizing Research Investments
The focus of Open Access literature is to remove the access barriers and make it free to read and use. Open Access literature is not free to produce, but the business model is different from access-restricted, subscription publications.
Open Access has the potential to maximize research investments, increase the exposure and use of published research, facilitate the ability to conduct research across available literature, and enhance the overall advancement of scholarship. Furthermore, it gives authors the freedom to distribute their research results to whomever they wish, without requiring a paid subscription.
Research funding agencies, academic institutions, researchers and scientists, libraries, and students are supporting a move towards Open Access in increasing numbers every year. UCSF authors can take advantage of Open Access publication fee discounts through several memberships and subscriptions paid by the Library. Open Access Week is a key opportunity for all members of the community to take action to keep this momentum moving forward.
Learning More About Open Access
The UCSF library is hosting an event this week to provide more information about Open Access and what options are available to the UCSF community. Those who stop by the information tables will be able to ask questions and learn about Open Access. Representatives from the libraries will be giving out free buttons, T‐shirts, cookies and more.
The Open Access information table will be set up at these dates and locations:
- Thursday, Oct. 27, noon to 1 p.m., Saunders Court, Parnassus campus.
For more information, go to these websites:
UCSF Library’s Scholarly Publication website
UCSF Discounts on Open Access Publication Fees