Open up your research (and the world will thank you)

Eliminating barriers to learning is at the heart of the ASU Charter, and nowhere else is this more celebrated than in the global movement for open access.  

Open access refers to peer-reviewed research that is made widely accessible to the public at no cost, along with encouraging its use and reuse through expanded copyright permissions; thus, the open access movement aims to transform the model of academic publishing by eliminating restrictions that many argue impede innovation. 

“Putting research behind a paywall means that a large portion of the world cannot access it,” said Anali Perry, a scholarly communications librarian at ASU who will be making the case for academic openness during Open Access Week, Oct. 21-27.  

As part of Open Access Week, scholars and researchers at Arizona State University are encouraged to learn more about ASU’s Open Access Policy, which was established in 2017 as a way of making ASU scholarship more widely available and with fewer restrictions.  

Open Access Week is also an opportunity to celebrate open education and the resources and tools that support it.  

In 2013, Maricopa County Community Colleges began a strategic, districtwide initiative to cut down the cost of a college education for Arizona students. By encouraging and providing support for instructors to locate, adopt and create open and no-cost educational materials and textbooks, the Maricopa Millions Open Educational Resources Project was born, saving students more than $11 million in its first five years.  

This semester, ASU instructors and faculty are encouraged to participate in a series of workshops on how to integrate open education resources into their courses, jointly offered by ASU Library and Maricopa Millions. 

“Today, there are so many ways to make learning and research accessible and inclusive, and we want to provide instructors the tools and resources they need to help break down these cost and access barriers to education,” said Perry, who is among several ASU librarians, faculty and staff who will be presenting at the international Open Education Conference in Glendale, Oct. 30-Nov. 1. 

In addition to the Open Education Conference, several Arizona institutions, including ASU, are sponsoring a free, full day workshop on open education resources and practices on Oct. 29. OERizona encourages all educators, regardless of experience, to attend, build relationships and gain expertise in open education. 

To learn more about open access, visit Perry’s library guide.