Join the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Library staff in recognizing International Open Access Week being held October 25-31, 2021. This year’s theme, “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity,” partners well with the release of UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.

International Open Access Week, a global event is an opportunity for librarians and information professionals to engage with their communities about the benefits of open access and to increase awareness of the role open access plays in the scholarly communication landscape.

In support of Open Access, we will be featuring five open access publications by MSK authors and will share one each day (Monday to Friday) as a Today’s Science Sparks on the Library Website. You can also browse the Today’s Science Sparks’ archives to find other open access articles.

I would like to highlight Plan S, supported by cOAlition S, an international consortium of research funders with a tagline that states “Making full & immediate Open Access a reality.” The plan requires that scientific publications resulting from research funded by public grants be published in compliant open access journals or platforms. To better understand this movement, check out the Plan S Principles.

You can also discover which open access journal titles MSK authors publish in by looking for the orange open access button in a Synapse work record. If you see the button in a record, this confirms the journal is open access. Synapse is our public-facing and authoritative bibliographic database showcasing the intellectual output of all our researchers.

If you want to participate in the open access week experience, you can follow the conversation on Twitter, as well as share your thoughts. Don’t forget to include the official hashtag — #OAWeek. 

If you have any questions about Open Access, don’t hesitate to ASK US.

Donna Gibson
Director, Library Services