Open Access Week 2010

Today marks the start of Open Access Week 2010, as thousands of scholars, faculty, and students in nearly 90 countries worldwide participate in events to raise awareness and advance understanding of the benefits of Open Access (OA) to scholarly research. In November, 2009 the Oberlin College General Faculty Open Access resolution was passed unanimously and this fall the OberlinScholarshipOA institutional respository of scholarly articles is set to debut. Many recent OC student honors papers have already been published in an openly accessible manner on the OhioLINK Electronic Thesis and Dissertation website.

This week's activities feature the voices of top researchers who have stepped forward with first-hand accounts of how Open Access to research has positively impacted them and their ability to do their work. A video inaugurating Open Access Week can be viewed online on any day during OA Week. In this 20 minute video Pioneering Open Access advocate Dr. Harold Varmus, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who currently directs the U.S. National Cancer Institute, is joined by Dr. Cameron Neylon, a biophysicist and open research advocate; Dr. Mona Nemer, professor and vice-president for research at the University of Ottawa; Dr. Roger Wakimoto, Director of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research; and a host of other leading researchers from around the globe.