'Equity' is the theme of International Open Access Week this year. An important goal for the open access movement has been equality of access to academic publications. The aim is to reduce the barriers that readers outside the well-funded university system in Europe and North America face in accessing journals and books.
It is telling that many of the journals and working papers we support through University of Leicester Open Journals have emerged from disciplines and projects with strong practitioner participation or geographic focus.
Museum and Society publishes articles by both academics and museum professionals, reflecting a long-standing agenda within the School of Museum Studies. The museum sector has many small institutions within it, with correspondingly small budgets. Outside of national institutions like the V and A, which houses the UK's National Art Library, a library budget becomes a 'nice to have' rather than an essential service. Open access greatly enhances the impact of the recent special issue on museums' responses to COVID-19, allowing people working in the sector to contribute, read and respond.
Similar concerns lie behind New Middle Eastern Studies, which aims to increase collaboration between researchers in the region and in the West.
Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies Working Papers Series has published several papers arising from collaborative projects with researchers and professionals in Africa. Allowing quick and uncomplicated access to the papers is vital for engagement with people on the ground.
....
Our second Open Access (OA) conversation we had as part of our engagement with research stakeholders during #OAWeek was with Professor Richard Thomas, Professor of Archaeology and Dean of Research for CSSAH. We discussed the importance of OA for disseminating research, the challenges around funding OA, the benefits of sharing data, and much more. You can view the interview recording here: