Promoting open scholarship at Otago in learning, teaching & research
Thursday, September 25th, 2014 | Richard White | No Comments
$55 million – that’s the figure Radio NZ has reported that NZ universities and Crown Research Institutes pay in subscription fees to academic publishers. The University of Auckland alone spent almost $15m — with Otago spending the second-highest amount of $8.4 — on access to journals that for the most part comprises work done and reviewed by academics around the world for free, after signing their copyright over to the publishers.
You can also listen to the report from Morning Report.
Friday, April 19th, 2013 | Richard White | 68 Comments
The Tasman Declaration came out of the Open Research Conference (mentioned previously on this blog) held in Auckland in February, representing the collective voice of the diverse group of participants, including researchers, lawyers, librarians, research infrastructure providers, technology consultants and software developers from NZ, Australia, the US and the UK. The declaration calls on Australian and New Zealand research communities, institutions, policy makers and funders to make publicly-funded research open:
Publicly funded research should be openly available to maximise return on investments into research, and to increase participation in research and its translation beyond the traditional research sector.
“Open Research” is about removing barriers for society to benefit from research, by ensuring open access to and reuse of research papers, data, materials, metadata and code, and by developing the supporting practices and policies.
In the absence of a good reason, research outputs should be made available with as few restrictions as possible and as soon as possible.
Read more about the story behind the declaration or read the declaration itself in full.
Add your voice by signing it.
Sunday, January 13th, 2013 | Richard White | No Comments
An Australasian Open Research Conference is to be held at the University of Auckland on 6-7 February. This will be an important event for researchers interested in openness to explore with like-minded people the rapidly-developing world of open research, publishing and data in the New Zealand and Australian contexts.
The line-up for Day 1 looks to be a fascinating blend of practical exemplars of those already working in the open space and discussion of high-level policy/strategy (non-profit and commercial). Sessions will be led by some of the movers and shakers in openness from both nations. Day 2 will be a barcamp-style, participant-led session looking to explore the themes of Day 1 and in more concrete terms examine how openness can be advanced in our research communities.
Read more on the conference web site.
(Otago people: please let me know if you are planning on attending – it’s important we have representation at this conference and have people who can report back to our community about what transpired).
Friday, July 27th, 2012 | Richard White | No Comments
From Morning Report, Wed 25 July: Scientists (and the PM’s science advisor Peter Gluckman) say that it is inevitable that NZ will follow recent declarations overseas that publicly funded research will become open access: