International Open Access (OA) Week takes place this year from October 20 to October 26, 2014, with events taking place all over the world to bring attention to what open access means for research and researchers.

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) announced in early May that the theme would be “Generation Open” highlighting “the importance of students and early career researchers as advocates for change in the short-term, through institutional and governmental policy, and as the future of the Academy upon whom the ultimate success of the Open Access movement depends.” In addition, the “theme will also explore how changes in scholarly publishing affect scholars and researchers at different stages of their careers.”

Open Access week began in 2007 and continues to be an important event to raise awareness of the benefits of an open access environment as well as the value and impact open access content provides to the reader. The MSK Library is committed to the principles of open access to scholarly peer-reviewed literature as a means to accelerate scientific discovery and improve patient care. The Library website will feature again this year during Open Access week, OA publications by MSK authors in our Today’s Science Sparks section. You can also look for the open access button in the Today’s Science Sparks archives.

But open access is not just about scholarly journal articles!  Take a moment to explore Open Access Theses and Dissertations, or the growing list of resources around open data which include Dryad, Registry of Research Data Repositories (re3data.org), Figshare, and The Dataverse Network Project…to name a few.

If you know of an open access resource, feel free to send me an email so that we can include it in our Open Access LibGuide.  This guide highlights many OA resources and sites and there is always room to add new ones to the list!

Donna Gibson
Director of Library Services