Scalable and sustainable: making research open access

Today, like days before, I open the cupboard to get the coffee grounds. I open the basement door to go to “the office”. I open new emails. And I think about how we can open access to peer-reviewed scientific research.

After all, that’s my job as manager of the Open Access Program at Canadian Science Publishing (CSP).

These thoughts are even more front of mind as the 2020 International Open Access Week begins.

Open access (OA) has been gaining momentum, with lots of buzz about Plan S—set to launch in January 2021—and an increasing number of transformative agreements in the works (i.e., those designed to transition subscription-based content to OA).

Last year, CSP established its Open Access Program with the purpose of helping us stay in step with the rapidly changing global open science (OS) and OA landscape. The program is tasked with leading OA publishing initiatives and exploring business models to support OA publishing.

We see OA as an opportunity—an opportunity to listen to and learn from diverse voices, pilot funding solutions with new partners, and increase the reach of science so everyone can make informed decisions about their lives and livelihoods.

The recently launched Open Access Roadmap provides CSP’s vision for the future growth of our existing OA journals and the sustainable transition of our hybrid journals to OA. The roadmap details our philosophy towards OA and outlines the major tasks and timelines associated with reaching our OA goals.

We are keen to experiment with different approaches to identify one or more models that are robust, sustainable, simple, scalable, and flexible. It is our goal to be transparent in our approach and to share our progress with the community to serve others who are also keen to explore new ways to support OA.

“Made-in-Canada” open access

OA is a global movement of ideas and efforts by local research communities.

Our “local” OA initiatives take shape among OA stakeholders in Canada, including publishers, funders, librarians, researchers, and policy analysts.

CSP leads a Canadian national Open Science Working Group with the purpose of uniting stakeholders to discuss Canada’s place in the global OS movement and help Canada keep pace with global trends. The goals of the group are to unify participants with an interest in OS in Canada, discuss national and international OS news and events, and engage the broader OS community to consolidate our efforts and amplify our message.

We are also partners with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and helped provide the Canadian perspective for the UNESCO Recommendation on OS.

The Recommendation—currently in its first draft—aims to build a global consensus on OS through an inclusive, transparent, and consultative process involving all countries and all stakeholders. Through this process, UNESCO called upon member states and national commissions to advise on OS.

On November 29, 2020, in collaboration with the Royal Society of Canada, CSP is hosting a free, virtual workshop on OA publishing (registration and program here). This workshop is a follow-up to the 2019 panel discussion on “Canada’s position in the OS landscape… current Canadian open science initiatives, and…opportunities for collaboration”.

The 2020 workshop builds on the Office of the Chief Science Advisor’s Roadmap for Open Science, with a focus on supporting sustainable OA publishing, from both Canadian and international perspectives.

Open access in a pandemic-impacted world

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed pre-existing challenges, demonstrated the value of OA, and created new opportunities for advancing scholarly communication.

Look for an upcoming post on The Scholarly Kitchen, by CSP and colleagues from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), that focuses on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic within the scholarly publishing ecosystem in Canada and beyond.

This topic will also be explored in a panel discussion taking place on November 9, 2020, at the 12^th Canadian Science Policy Conference .

We are excited to see so much momentum and enthusiasm for OA, and we look forward to sharing our progress with you in the coming months and years.

CSP’s vision is a world where everyone is empowered by science and we feel that OA is a key step towards realizing that vision. We hope you will join us on our journey!