Open Access Week: Making Science Accessible to All
BIU honors the global Open Access movement with a full week of lectures, seminars, and scientific events
Bar-Ilan's Open Access week will be held between February 26 and March 2, promoting open science in Israel. In addition to the various events, BIU will launch the CRIS system, an open database for university researchers.
Bar-Ilan's Open Access week is part of a global movement promoting open science. Its purpose is to make scientific knowledge accessible and collaborative. Since scientific research is funded with the help of the general public, it should be accessible to the general public and all researchers.
Previously, one could only access academic articles with a paid scientific journal subscription, while experimental data were not accessible at all. Nowadays, researchers seeking public funding must comply with Open Access regulations that include, among others, the free availability of articles on the internet and the sharing of research data while maintaining the researchers' copyright.
Dr. Simcha Meir, who serves as the NOAD (National Open Access Desk) of Open AIRE - a pan-European organization that promotes open science in Europe, states: "The application of these principles has many advantages, including the acceleration of research and scientific discoveries, more accurate verification of scientific results, increased productivity, and advancing the public's trust in science."
Bar-Ilan University has promoted open science for several years, holding seminars, lectures, and events. This year, the festive week will open with a grand event dedicated to the launch of CRIS, the open access system to manage research outputs currently being implemented at BIU. "The advanced system will allow researchers to upload articles and additional research products to promote open access," says Sarit Sambol Szasz, head of professional processes and projects in BIU's libraries and information system.
"In addition to launching CRIS, we will also focus on training and supporting researchers and students on various issues related to open access publishing, managing research data, choosing the correct journal to publish with, and more. We will meet Israeli publishers and discuss the changes in the publishing world following the transition to open access publishing," adds Sambol Szasz.