Professor at whiteboard speaks to two students.
Creating a culture of Open at the University of Waterloo

Welcome to Open Scholarship at Waterloo

Welcome to the Open Scholarship Committee's (OSC) website. We are a team of faculty members, librarians, staff members, and students who educate, advocate for, and support open research practices, open access publishing, open data, and open educational resources. We are committed to helping scholars make informed decisions about the ways they make their research, scholarship, and instructional content accessible within their scholarly communities.

What is open scholarship?

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) defines open scholarship as: "encompass[ing] open access, open data, open educational resources and all other forms of openness in the scholarly and research environment." More information, including definitions of each of these areas can be found on the pages linked in the sidebar.

Why is open access important?

As a student:

  • Open access removes the barriers of high journal subscription costs, which can be cost-prohibitive and put smaller institutions at a greater disadvantage

  • Courses will be higher quality when professors have access to the resources they need, as opposed to using content solely because it is affordable or available.

As a researcher:

  • Open access (OA) articles often see higher citation rates than closed access articles, in part due to the increased exposure of the work. In a study1 of over 100,000 articles, OA articles received 18% more citations than average.
    • Open research may also be more easily found and used by news agencies, non-profit organizations, and public policy makers, providing different mechanisms under which the research can make an impact.
  • Funders, such as the Tri-Agencies (NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR), NIH and NASA, are making funding contingent on publishing open access. Read the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy page for more information.

As a member of the public:

  • Open access gives the public access to research often funded by their taxes
  • Access to research makes it easier for members of public to participate in the scholarly conversation, and do research themselves, often labelled 'citizen science'
  • When researchers and students have improved access to scholarly works, innovation and advancements in research happen more quickly

As an organization that invests in research:

  • The open access model provides a more sustainable path to funding research.

Why is open data important?
  • Researchers are more easily able to reproduce research.
  • Researchers can reuse others data to improve upon others results, or take research in new directions.
    • This can also lead to opportunities for collaboration!
  • Open data may prevent unnecessary duplication of effort.
  • Open data supports research integrity.
  • Open data can help people make informed decisions. For example, open data can help people avoid geese, know when there might be traffic issues, or find the nearest public washroom.

Why are open educational resources (OER) important?
  • Using OER improves student access to course materials. The cost of traditional textbooks are often unaffordable for students; OER are made available for free to students.
  • OER are adaptable, allowing faculty to create content that is customized for their classes.
  • OER allow members of communities beyond colleges and universities to access academic education materials, allowing for broader access to information.

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1. Piwowar, H., Priem, J., Larivière, V., Alperin, J. P., Matthias, L., Norlander, B., … Haustein, S. (2018). The state of OA: a large-scale analysis of the prevalence and impact of Open Access articles. PeerJ, 6, e4375. doi:10.7717/peerj.4375

News

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Call Out for Open Education Week

The Open Scholarship Committee is making plans for Open Education Week (March 6–10, 2023). There may be presentations, articles, and panels. Possible categories include legal (copyright, accessibility), technology, getting help on campus, OER Fellows Program, repositories, and panels (instructor, grad student, undergrad). If you have an idea for a topic or if you would like to participate as a presenter please contact kblair@uwaterloo.ca.