News

GYA news release: More open access pledge

Other
More than 130 members and alumni of the 200-strong Global Young Academy have signed the 'More Open Access' pledge. The signatories commit to submitting at least one manuscript in 2016 to an outlet that is directly and fully Open Access.

Open Science is gaining momentum. The European Commission recently called for immediate Open Access of all research publications. However, many see that as an overambitious goal: progress has been relatively slow in the past decade.

Now, over 130 and alumni of the 200-strong Global Young Academy signed the More Open Access pledge. The signatories commit to submitting at least one manuscript in 2016 to an outlet that is directly and fully Open Access. Such an outlet can be an online journal or a widely known academic website.

More on the More Open Access Pledge and How to Join

At the time of writing, 132 scholars from the Global Young Academy have pledged to submit at least one manuscript to an Open Access outlet in the remainder of 2016 (starting on 4 June 2016). Researchers – of all experience levels – can join the pledge via this link. The outlet can be either an Open Access journal or a well-recognized platform (e.g. ArXiv for physics, mathematics and computer science, BioRxiv for biology, or the new SocArxiv for the social sciences), as long as the manuscript is shared directly and without embargo.

The initiators of the More Open Access pledge initially thought that it would remain a small initiative with a handful of signatories because many members of the Global Young Academy are in fields or positions in which publishing involves other output (e.g. patents or reports). The fact that the pledge rapidly gained traction indicates that demand from researchers is high and that it is a globally relevant issue.

Open Science is a key interest of the Global Young Academy. Together with other National Young Academies, the Academy recently published statements on Open Data and Open Access.

For more details, see the full GYA news release HERE.