Open scholarship includes a broad spectrum of practices wherein researchers can share their work. This may occur at any or all phases of the research, with public sharing and/or community engagement helping inform the research itself.
At its core, open scholarship is the practice of minimizing barriers to knowledge by making both the products and processes of scholarship more transparent and accessible. This practice helps nourish the intellect of our populations, building communities of responsible citizens.
You may be familiar with many components of open scholarship, without having named it as such.
Open Access & Open Licensing:
You may see an icon like this atop a scholarly journal, article or other artefact. The icon, which looks like an open lock, typically indicates that the product is free to access, available online, and free from most copyright restrictions. Some open publications will make use of Creative Commons (CC) licenses, which specify the restrictions placed on the use and reuse of the works.
Did you know?
Open access resources mitigate the cost of education for students and allow instructors more flexibility in their teaching, rather than being confined to material that is affordable or available from their home institution.
Open Publishing
There are many options for open publications within and adjacent to the academy. And although there are options where both publishing and accessing the materials is free, some publications do charge author fees to offset the cost of production. In those cases, there may be funding from your library or faculty to help with the costs. For more information, visit the Online and Open Textbooks page.
Some open access journals (related to our work in OOL) that do not require author fees include:
- Canadian Journal of Education (CJE)
- Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology (CJLT)
- Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CJSoTL)
- Emerging Perspectives
- International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL)
- Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education (JCIE)
- Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy (JITP)
You can find a complete searchable list of open access publications on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
For more information on Open Access publishing rights, fees, locations, and processes, visit the Leddy Library Open Access website.
Remember that even when you publish your work under CC licenses, you still own the copyright and intellectual property. You are just providing greater opportunity for people to engage with your work.
Did you know?
Recipients of Tri-Agency Funding (SSHRC, CIHR, NSERC) are required to “ensure that any peer-reviewed journal publications arising from Agency-supported research are freely accessible within 12 month of publication.” Check out the Leddy Library page on Open Access Policies for more information.
Open Data
Submitting data to open repositories allows the data to be used for archival research projects, to further the analysis of the same data sets, to take research in new directions, and to prevent unnecessary duplication of effort. The Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy does not require scholars to submit their data, but encourages researchers to follow a set of principles to improve the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reuse of digital assets.
Some open repositories include:
Did you know?
The University of Windsor Research Ethics Board now includes questions (20 F, 25 F & G) on their application forms about whether researchers will submit their data to open data repositories, along with related follow-up questions about repository details. If you plan to submit to a repository, you should consider the details and implications ahead of applying for ethics clearance.
Open Research and Science:
Open science aims to enhance the transparency and accessibility of knowledge developed and shared through collaborative networks. This benefits both scholars and society more broadly, by reaching groups and individuals who are often left out of traditional research communities, and encouraging information-sharing. Although components of open science may include open publishing and open data, openness can be incorporated throughout the research lifecycle (ideation, data collection, analysis, publication, and knowledge mobilization).
For a detailed introduction to open science, check out An introduction to the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.