2026 International Open Access Week: The Cost of Knowledge
“The Cost of Knowledge” is the theme for this year’s International Open Access Week (October 19-25).
We create and share knowledge in order to advance human understanding and the common good. We recognize that accessing and sharing knowledge is a human right. Yet, the costs to access and share knowledge continue to increase, often dramatically. Why? Who benefits?
Leddy Library will be hosting a range of hybrid and virtual events in the first floor Research Collaboratory. Join us for whichever sessions you'd like! We'll have group viewing of virtual sessions hosted by libraries around the world, and have a hybrid session on getting started with ORCID and what benefits that unlocks for faculty and students alike.
| Date | Time | Title | Host institution | abstract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-15 | 8:00-11:00 am | Who Measures Merit? Open Science and the Future of Academic Evaluation | IE University Library (Madrid) | Research assessment is undergoing profound change as institutions worldwide seek more responsible, transparent, and inclusive approaches to evaluating research and researchers. This online event will explore how the principles of Open Science are reshaping research assessment, from international initiatives such as the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) to national developments and institutional implementation. Speakers will discuss the evolving policy landscape, the role of qualitative and responsible assessment practices, the challenges of moving beyond traditional metrics, and the services and support that universities can provide to foster meaningful change. It will offer an opportunity to reflect on the future of academic evaluation and the collective efforts driving research assessment reform. Programme 8:00 – 8:15 am Greetings and introduction 8:15 – 8:45 am “Rethinking Academic Merit: Open Science and the Shift in Research Assessment” Alicia Gómez (IE University Library, Madrid) 8:45 – 9:15 am “CoARA Italian National Chapter: Challenges and Opportunities” Paola Galimberti (Università Statale degli Studi di Milano) 9:15 – 9:45 am “CoARA in Practice: Infrastructures Supporting the Future of Research Evaluation” Susanna Mornati (4Science) 9:45 – 10:00 am Break 10:00 – 11:00 am Round table: Francesco Grossetti (Bocconi University) The event is organized in partnership with IE University Library (Madrid) and in collaboration with the network of universities of the European Project CIVICA. |
| 2026-10-20 | 6:00-7:00 am | Real or Fake? Hands-On Workshop on How to Avoid Cloned Journals and Predatory Publishers | Universitit Saarland | Choosing the right journal for your publication can be challenging. One reason for this is fraudulent publishers who try to charge you for services and a reputation that they do not provide, and who often disappear along with their publications. Even something that looks like a renowned journal from e.g. Elsevier/Springer can be a fake website. |
| 2026-10-20 | 11:00 am - noon | Publishing Open Data with Dryad | Tennessee-Knoxville | Join us for Open Access Week 2026 with UT Libraries! During this week of events, we’ll share resources related to learning about open access and how you can make your work open! This workshop will provide a brief overview of Dryad and show how researchers can deposit and publish datasets openly. |
| 2026-10-21 | 9:30-10:30 am | Björn Brembs: Replacing academic journals | Zurich | “The cost of knowledge” – this year’s Open Access Week motto asks why publishing publicly funded research still costs so much, and who benefits. Björn Brembs will argue that today’s journal system is structurally broken: a handful of publishers extract far more from public budgets than the service justifies, starving the infrastructure that reliable, reproducible research actually needs. Thus, the research system faces not only a replicability crisis but also an affordability crisis and a functionality crisis. Drawing on his paper “Replacing academic journals” he will sketch what a leaner, community-owned alternative could look like. Björn Brembs is Professor of Neurogenetics at the University of Regensburg, Germany, and an advocate for reforming scholarly publishing for many years. |
| 2026-10-22 | 10:00-11:00 am | Getting Started with Your ORCID | University of Windsor, Leddy Library | Establishing an ORCID is a great way to maximize your research impact and reduce the amount of work a researcher needs to do to keep their public research profile complete and up to date. In this session, Leddy librarians from the Research & Publishing Services Unit will introduce ORCID, its benefits, and how to get started. This session will be recorded, but Q&A at the end of the session will not be recorded for attendees' privacy. |
Event Date:
Oct 19, 2026
Event Time:
11:45PM
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