Open Access - Information Matters

As a librarian (occasionally practicing) and a practicing physician, I often encounter workplace issues that would be better resolved with a little perspective from the information field. Problems, such as the need to search for reliable information in order to treat a particularly challenging medical case, are commonplace. This can be a frustrating but fascinating experience, as I, being an information professional, have some intrinsic knowledge of the issues that make solving these problems a challenge.

Featured Op/Ed

February 15, 2026 Maria Bonn

SOS: Dismantle Information Privilege to Save our Science

The start of this year’s Open Access Week coincided with No Kings demonstrations that took place around the nation on Oct. 18. I found myself that day, as so many of us did, shoulder to shoulder with friends, family and strangers speaking up for democracy. I was at the Seattle Center, at the foot of the Space Needle in downtown Seattle, in a vast crowd, my attention divided between fired-up speakers, inflatable unicorns, posters with wry comments and a rank of flags for veterans for peace. Amid the crowd was a group of intellectual-looking types, most wearing glasses and lab coats, waving SOS banners: Save Our Science. When I saw the SOS signs, I thought about how difficult it is to protect something we can’t see, how difficult it is to convince people of the value of something that they can’t use.

Education Featured International Opinion

June 2, 2025 Emmanuel Omeiza Momoh

They Published It, But Can You Read It?

At a time when global research output is booming, access remains a privilege for the few. This article explores the irony of knowledge locked behind paywalls and argues for a publishing model where research truly reaches the people who need it most. If they published it, why can’t you read it?

Featured InfoFire

September 25, 2024 Shalini Urs

Whither Open Access? A Fireside Chat with Dr. Jean Claude Guedon, a Sage on the OA Stage

Tune in to this episode of InfoFire, where Dr. Jean-Claude Guédon delves into the history and future possibilities of Open Access, offering his unique perspective on where the movement has been and where it could be heading. Our discussion covered a broad spectrum of topics, including the mission of Open Access, the economics of funding and various business models, the controversial issue of Article Processing Charges (APCs), as well as debates surrounding scientific metrics, copyright issues, and more.

Education Featured

March 30, 2023 Dr. Shalini R. Lihitkar

The Open Access Movement: Opportunities and Hurdles

The Open Access movement is the movement to make available or publish scholarly literature on the internet to readers free of charge and free of unnecessary licensing restrictions.

Translation

December 1, 2022 Zhentao Liang

Higher Novelty, Longer Handling Process? Evidence from 700,000 Publications

In the field of Scientometrics (or Science of Science), whether novel ideas experience more difficulties in dissemination and adoption is of particular interest. Evidence has been found that highly novel papers and grant proposals often suffer from stricter scrutiny and are more likely to be negatively evaluated.

InfoFire Multimedia

June 15, 2022 Shalini Urs

Is R the Right Toolset for eScience/Open Science? Fireside Chat with Maëlle Salmon

R language is bringing open source to science. R is crossing over from just calculating statistics to scientific experimentation and bringing hacker culture. Thanks to R, the “open science” advocates are succeeding at getting science to go open source.

Translation

May 20, 2022 Simon Mahony

The Open Agenda: Why Openness and Transparency Are Needed

What happens to all that data when the project is finished? How might it be shared for reuse in ways in which the original researchers had not thought of? How might it be made available for checking the results of that research or for possible new topics?

Translation

September 29, 2021 Jack James

Pirate Open Access: Defeating Monetized Academic Publishing

Despite the immense value of scientific knowledge, academic publishing has long pursued an ethos of sharing rather than trade for profit.