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Open Access Week 2023: Community over Commercialization

Posted October 17, 2023 in JMU Libraries News, Open Education News

International Open Access week website

Not all approaches to scholarly communication prioritize the best interests of the public and the academic community. Open Access Week provides an opportunity to discuss open scholarship—and whose interests are served by it.

This year’s Open Access Week theme, “Community over Commercialization,” explores questions around what happens when commercial interests are prioritized over those of the communities that research seeks to serve.

International Open Access Week is October 23-29 this year.

The UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science highlights the need to prioritize community over commercialization in its calls for the prevention of “inequitable extraction of profit from publicly funded scientific activities” and support for “non-commercial publishing models and collaborative publishing models with no article processing charges.”

What is Open access (OA)? Information that is digital, online, free of charge, and free from most copyright and licensing restrictions is called “open access.” Journals, books, databases, and other publications can be made open access. Learn more.

Why is OA important to JMU Libraries? We believe access to open, reliable, peer-reviewed information is an issue of justice, and we want to be part of an ethical, equitable solution.

Here are five things you can do in honor of OA Week and in support of community over commercialization:

  1. Participate in OA Week events: We’ve selected several online OA Week events to highlight next week (October 23-29).
  2. Learn more about OA at JMU: We provide many avenues to support your engagement with open access and help you contribute to an open community.
  3. Advocate for open access where you can: You can influence your discipline by advocating for open access when possible. For example, ask your scholarly society if there are plans to transition the society’s journals to open or check out these other ways of taking OA action.
  4. Publish your work in open access venues: JMU authors in any discipline can apply for funding to cover OA article processing charges. Some OA fees for JMU authors may already be eliminated or reduced through discounts offered by the Libraries’ memberships, subscriptions, and participation in the VIVA consortium. View our existing publisher agreements.
  5. Adopt an open textbook next semester: Learn how to find high-quality open textbooks that alleviate the burden of textbook costs for students and allow you to share and customize materials for your course.


Questions? The Libraries’ Scholarly Communications Strategies team can advise you on all things open access.