Qatar National Library has curated a special series of events in celebration of International Open Access Week, held between 19 and 25 October.
International Open Access Week, a global event now in its tenth year, is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of open access, share what they’ve learned with colleagues and help inspire wider participation to make open access a new norm in scholarship and research.
The theme of the tenth anniversary week is “Open With Purpose: Taking Action to Build Structural Equity and Inclusion.” Open access, which enables the universal availability of scholarly research, is having a significant positive impact on everything from education to the practice of medicine to entrepreneurial success. It also helps dismantle barriers to knowledge around the world that are built on legacies of historical injustice.
To begin the week, on 19 October the Library will run a session introducing attendees to its Open Access Author Fund. The event will show researchers in Qatar how they can benefit from the fund to cover the cost of publishing articles in open access journals. The session will also briefly outline the concept of open access and how it can benefit research in Qatar.
The Library has funded more than 1,000 open access articles since 2017 and is a leading center in open access in the region. The Open Access Author Fund is just one way the Library is working toward making a global impact by increasing access to information and research by removing barriers such as publishing costs.
On 20 October, the Library will host an academic writing and publishing workshop in which local researchers and authors will provide information and guidance on how to prepare a manuscript for submission.
The Library will hold a lecture looking at opening up Qatar’s research output on 21 October. Qatar has an expanding research landscape with several significant achievements in multiple disciplines over the past decade. The present state of research data management in Qatar finds fragmented and scattered sources of research data and information about research activities in the country. The Library is committed to addressing the emerging but increasingly important aspects of research data curation, such as management and publication of research data as important outputs and their long-term digital preservation.
The talk will trace the journey of the Library toward establishing a national research data curation service for Qatar, highlighting the associated opportunities and key challenges.
On 22 October, patrons can join a virtual lecture exploring open access in the time of COVID-19. The pandemic has caused ripples through all aspects of life, impacting the economy and education. Libraries have gone into lockdown, and the increased dependency on electronic resources has highlighted the necessity of quality online content and the importance of open access to information.
The changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have had an impact on the landscape of open access, open science and scholarly publishing. This panel discussion will explore the pandemic's impact on various stakeholders, including libraries, scholarly publishers and research institutions, and will explore expectations and predictions for 2021 and beyond.
Then, to wrap up the week, on 25 October the Library will announce the first recipient of its Open Initiative Award. The Library began its search for the country’s best open scholarship project last month, calling for nominations for its inaugural award ceremony. The award will be given each to the best initiative to have contributed to the advancement of open scholarship in Qatar each year. A presentation will be given by the award recipient about their project
