Open Access Week events will feature the university’s new open access policy

Beginning Oct. 25, Open Access Week will offer talks, panel discussions, and workshops to help Virginia Tech authors understand the importance of sharing their scholarship and how to do so. A key topic of discussion throughout the week is the university’s new open access policy.

Kevin McGuire, a professor in Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation and an Open Access Policy Working Group member, will discuss the new policy.

"Our OA policy helps improve the visibility, impact, and citation of our work,” said McGuire, “and it’s the right thing to do as a public institution." 

“Universities with an open access policy are still in the minority," said Philip Young, repository manager for VTechWorks and also a member of the Open Access Policy Working Group. "For example, Virginia Tech is the only university in Virginia where authors have the legal right to share research more openly. Taking advantage of it is not only to our own benefit, but to the benefit of those seeking evidence-based information around the world.”

The week's events welcome all faculty, staff, and students, in learning how open access resources make a greater impact in teaching, research, and education across the globe. All Open Access Week activities will be offered online via Zoom. All are eligible for faculty PDN credit. Open Access Week is sponsored by University Libraries.

On Monday, Oct. 25, from 2-3:30 p.m., experts at University Libraries will explore the value of open access sources in evidence synthesis and challenges to overcome when searching and accessing fee-based sources or require institutional access. They will also discuss ways to use open access repositories, such as VTechWorks and Open Science Framework, to make a synthesis more transparent so others can evaluate, replicate, and use it.

Also on that Monday from 6-8 p.m., experts from Virginia Tech and Harvard University will discuss the new open access policy. This feature presentation will dive into how the open access policy works, how it was developed, and why it’s important. Peter Suber from Harvard University’s Office of Scholarly Communication and members of the open access working group will answer questions from attendees regarding the open access policy. The presentation will be followed by introductions to open data and open educational resources.

On Tuesday, Oct. 26, from 3-4 p.m., learn how Virginia Tech authors can take advantage of the open access policy. As a result of the faculty-led effort to create this policy and its approval by the Board of Visitors in spring 2021, all Virginia Tech authors have the right to deposit the accepted version of their scholarly articles in the university’s repository, VTechWorks. This session helps researchers understand and use the policy, including version preparation, ways to deposit, waiving the license, and delaying access if desired. Authors of open scholarship benefit through greater readership, downloads, and citations. 

On Wednesday, Oct. 27, from 3-4 p.m., learn about the $150,000 available to cover article processing charges (APCs) when articles are accepted by an open access scholarly journal. University Libraries is committed to assisting Virginia Tech faculty in openly publishing their work, and its $150,000 Open Access Subvention Fund does just that. 

On Thursday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem (TOME) will host its annual stakeholder meeting. TOME brings together scholars, universities, libraries, and presses in pursuit of a common goal — a sustainable open monograph ecosystem. In 2018, TOME launched as a five-year pilot initiative of the Association of American Universities, Association of Research Libraries, and Association of University Presses. The meeting will feature a roundtable of authors who have published through TOME, an update on the program’s progress, and a look ahead to the future of open monograph publishing. 

For more information about Open Access Week at Virginia Tech visit the event’s web page. If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please email library-event-accessibility-g@vt.edu at least 10 business days prior to the event.