International Open Access Week takes place on 19–25 October. The Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (CINT) at Lublin University of Technology is participating through an information campaign exploring this year’s theme, “The Cost of Knowledge”, highlighting relevant training opportunities and encouraging readers to explore the University’s scholarly output in the ROCK repository.
Open Access Week provides an opportunity to reflect on how research findings are shared and how access to them supports research, education and professional practice. For CINT, the initiative is closely aligned with our everyday work: supporting the academic community in accessing knowledge and disseminating the scholarly output of Lublin University of Technology.
Free access to publications does not mean that producing and sharing them is without cost. Every article and monograph relies on the work of authors, reviewers, editors and the staff responsible for publication and preservation. Digital infrastructure also requires ongoing investment to ensure that resources can be discovered, stored and accessed.
Through our information campaign on CINT’s social media channels, we explore the financial, human and environmental costs of sharing knowledge. We explain the distinction between charges for accessing publications and the costs of publishing them, highlight the academic community’s contribution to scholarly communication and address privacy considerations for users of digital platforms.
We also present approaches that support access to research findings, including Diamond Open Access, a publishing model in which neither authors nor readers are charged fees. Examples can be found among the journals available on the Lublin University of Technology publishing platform.
Open Access Week features events organised by universities and organisations supporting open science. We encourage researchers, doctoral students and those involved in scholarly publishing to explore opportunities focusing on research integrity and the practical aspects of sharing research outputs.
Upcoming events include:
20 October, 12:00–13:00 — “Real or Fake? Hands-On Workshop on How to Avoid Cloned Journals and Predatory Publishers” — an online workshop on identifying predatory publishers and fraudulent websites impersonating legitimate journals, with practical tools for assessing the credibility of scholarly sources. Organised by Servicestelle Open-Access-Saar. Register for the workshop.
21 October, 13:00–14:30 — “AI & predatory publishing” — a webinar within Danish Open Access Week exploring the use of artificial intelligence in fraudulent publishing practices and approaches to identifying these threats. The session will be delivered by Lorna Wildgaard of Copenhagen University Library. Webinar information and programme and registration.
Both events will be held in English and require advance registration. All times are given in Central European Summer Time (CEST), the local time in Poland on these dates.
We also invite readers to explore the programme offered by the Main Library of Warsaw University of Technology. Topics include collaborative manuscript preparation, open science from a researcher’s perspective, research data in National Science Centre (NCN) projects and good practices for depositing data in repositories. The programme is intended primarily for the Warsaw University of Technology community; participants from other institutions should confirm their eligibility with the organiser.
Open access is an established part of our University’s activities. Through ROCK — the Repository of Open Collections and Knowledge — we make research and teaching outputs from Lublin University of Technology available online, including electronic editions of monographs, textbooks and course materials published by Lublin University of Technology Publishing House.
The repository supports the dissemination and long-term preservation of publications, making them accessible to researchers, students and readers beyond academia. These resources can inform research, support teaching and learning, and contribute to professional development. Any further use should comply with the licence attached to the individual publication.
Open Access Week offers an opportunity to highlight this year-round commitment. By making the University’s scholarly output available, supporting authors and helping readers develop the skills to use research resources effectively, we contribute to the wider use of knowledge produced at Lublin University of Technology.
We invite you to follow CINT’s campaign, take part in the educational events and explore the resources available through ROCK.
Find out more: International Open Access Week.
Projekt współfinansowany ze środków Unii Europejskiej w ramach Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego, Program Operacyjny Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój 2014-2020 "PL2022 - Zintegrowany Program Rozwoju Politechniki Lubelskiej" POWR.03.05.00-00-Z036/17
