The creation of institutional repositories (IRs) which became common among research organisations during the first decade of the 21st century was in part a response to excessive cost increases of scientific journal subscriptions. A common aspiration was that as a key part of the open access (OA) movement, institutions would use repositories to take back ownership of their published output and provide access to those unable to afford these exorbitant subscriptions. And because journal subscriptions are mostly handled by libraries, the campus library was often a central sponsor of the IR. Nevertheless, institutional repositories have not evolved in the way they were first intended.

GDC Difusión Científica has partnered with open research publisher F1000 to create a dedicated open research publishing hub, GDC Open Research in Latin America. This Gateway will enable researchers to amplify the impact of their work and promote the principles of open research throughout Latin America and beyond.

cOAlition S is pleased to announce that work has commenced on building the Journal Comparison Service to help the research community better understand if the publishing fees they pay are commensurate with the services delivered and to gain better insight into the elements of those services. Beginning in Spring 2022, cOAlition S plans to release the Journal Comparison Service in a phased approach, starting with accepting data from publishers. The online service will be accessible to authorised users later in Summer 2022.

The theme for the International Open Access Week in 2021 was ‘Building Structural Equity’. Equity for everyone is a challenge in publishing in general. However, it is a task that needs to be dealt with for open access publishers as their business models, in general, need to include equal opportunities for authors. Equity was also the focus at the OASPA conference in September 2021. The Stockholm University Press is sharing reflections on the importance of building structural equity in open access publishing.

A new white paper published in October 2021 from Springer Nature builds on the growing body of evidence that shows that Gold open access (OA) is best for authors and researchers. This white paper presents the findings from that analysis, which show a clear advantage in reach and impact for articles published open access (OA) in hybrid journals compared to non-OA articles in the same journals, and for the first time also an advantage for full (Gold) OA articles compared to subscription articles where an earlier article version (such as an accepted manuscript or preprint) has been self-archived in an OA repository. The white paper can be read here. More information on the white paper and Springer series of OA white papers can be found here.

The new Global Open Access Portal (GOAP.info) presents access to a wide array of Open Access resources worldwide, through an advanced user interface design. GOAP.info allows users to browse dynamic Open Access contents via both a text-based search and a map-enabled country search option. The new version of GOAP.info will facilitate the advocacy for openness, sharing of contents, technologies and processes that generate information and knowledge. The new Portal includes Open Access profiles of 166 countries and highlights existing key Open Access initiatives, mandates, events and publications.

Released as a beta version, the portal will soon feature an observatory for open access policies and policy development resources. It will also provide linkages with the ROAD directory of ISSN and other similar resources on Open Access.

Quartz OA is an ecosystem that facilitates exchanges of resources and funding among the open access community. It is a new cooperative economy and a new channel to fund and support independent open access publishing. The authors seek to create an ecosystem that would help retain the value in the hands of the academic community and re-distribute the flows of funding fairly and transparently among its members.

What should a good quality journal include in its make-up: rigorous research, a well-regarded editorial board, plenty of citations? But what if we challenge these assumptions and demand commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as well? There are solutions to this challenge.  Simon Linacre introduces the first SDG Impact Intensity(TM) rating from Cabells and Saint Joseph’s University. This pilot study seeks to highlight the differences between business and management journals regarded as leaders in their disciplines, and those which have focused on sustainability and related issues.

Jisc’s OpenDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories) has launched a self-assessment feature for repository staff that allows them to check whether their repository meets the six Plan S requirements for repositories.

In one of their previous articles, the authors of Predatory Publishing blog asked “Is there a good reason to publish in a predatory journal?“ They concluded that there was not, but they wanted to explore this topic in a little more detail, looking at some of the reasons that scholars gave when asked why they decided to publish in unreliable journals.