Research Information editor to host open access debate
Research Information editor Tim Gillett will host a discussion panel tomorrow as part of International Open Access Week, with a transatlantic line-up of industry experts taking part in the event.
Open access refers to making scholarly works available to the public at large free of charge. The sheer focus on ‘free’ may in fact obscure the need to ensure reliable access to information. The emergence of new publishing models has given rise to new challenges.
Sponsored by EBSCO and free to register, the discussion on 20 October at 3pm BST/10am EST/4pm CEST will look at a variety of aspects including the infrastructure, systems and functionality that support reliable access, trustworthy information, and approaches in support of open science goals and mandates.
The panel comprises: Neil Grindley, director of content and discovery services, Jisc; Lars Bjørnshauge, managing director of the DOAJ, or the Directory of Open Access Journals; and Carmelita Pickett, associate university librarian for scholarly resources and content strategy at the University of Virginia, USA.
Gillett said: ‘Much of the discussion in libraries today centres on topics of “open”: open access, open science and an open research infrastructure. ‘Open’ often implies unfettered access to content or interoperable platforms in support of research workflows.
‘Yet, beyond the common understanding of the need for “open”, questions persist around publishing models, the trustworthiness of information in an open environment, the needed functionality of research platforms, and the standards that support the interoperability between platforms and software applications.’
‘I’m very much looking forward to hosting this event.’
