The 2019 Open Access Week will be held and observed 21-27 October 2019 under the theme: “Open for Whom? Equity in Open Knowledge” and advocates of Open Access are being encourage to drum support and raise awareness for the week starting from now.
Established in 2008, the International Open Access Week is an opportunity to take action in making openness the default for research—to raise the visibility of scholarship, accelerate research, and turn breakthroughs into better lives.
Those celebrating the week are now encouraged to schedule local events whenever is most suitable during the year and to utilize themes that are most effective locally.
This year’s theme will build on the groundwork laid last year when discussions focused on “Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge.” The 2018 theme highlighted the importance of making a central commitment to equity as we transition toward new systems for sharing knowledge, and the past twelve months have only seen the pace of that transition increase. Because of this, the Open Access Week Advisory Committee decided it was important to focus on equity again in 2019—to deepen conversations about being inclusive by design and to turn those conversations into action.
For more information about International Open Access Week, please visit www.openaccessweek.org. The official twitter hashtag for the week is #OAWeek, and we encourage those having discussions around this year’s theme in the lead up to the week to use the hashtag #OpenForWhom.