International Open Access Week 2022 - Open for Climate Justice

IntechOpen is marking this year's International Open Access Week 2022, which is taking place from October 24 to 30, in partnership with Editage, R Discovery, Impact Science (brands of CACTUS, a science communications company), and Brill, a leading international academic publisher. During the week-long event, CACTUS brands, along with event partners IntechOpen and Brill, will organize a variety of interactive activities such as panel discussions, expert interviews, and more. The virtual sessions and events are open to all and will be available through registration.

Researchers will gain a deeper understanding of why it is important to publish climate-related research, learn more about Open Access and receive expert advice on publishing in various Open Access outlets. Publishers will also learn how to contribute to climate justice by making research Open Access, how to navigate regional differences in OA publishing, and gather information from similar global crises and how Open Access played a role in combating them.

“Since 2004, IntechOpen has championed Open Access as a means of removing barriers to knowledge and levelling the playing field for academics around the world. We are really pleased to see the focus on climate change research this year as this is a crucial area in which researchers and publishers need to share knowledge rapidly and openly in order that we can tackle the huge challenges that arise as a result of planetary warming,” said Viktorija Zgela, Head of Editorial Development.

IntechOpen is contributing to the discussions with a roundup of diverse perspectives from our community on the importance of Open Access and Open Science in the context of climate change, followed by an interview with Natalia Reinic Babic, Head of Journal Publishing and Open Science.

In addition to these activities, we are excited  to announce a couple of related collaborative initiatives which underpin the focus of this year's OA week theme. These partnerships and collaborations  reinforce our commitment to achieving more sustainable business operations and to actively participating in broadening the reach and impact of published climate-related research. 

With the focus of this year's International Open Access Week theme and followed by our activities around it, we decided to gather climate change resources in one place. Selected Open Access research span all across our publishing formats. We hope it will serve as a single point of access to various research tackling climate change issues. Explore the selection here.

Although Open Access week lasts only a  few days, as Open Access advocates, we see the need to emphasize the importance of Open Access and Open Science to research all year.  The same is true for this year's theme on climate justice. It is much larger than a single online event and merits greater attention from all stakeholders. Let this week’s activities and collaborations serve as inspiration and motivation for future climate-related actions.