Celebrate International Open Access Week
“The Cost of Knowledge” is the theme for this year’s International Open Access Week (October 19-25). Learn more about Brown Library’s Open Access guides and resources.
Open Access Week Workshops
During International Open Access Week, the Brown Library’s Open Science Librarian will present two workshops:
Paths for Making a Journal Article Open Access
Monday, 10/19, noon to 1 p.m. (online only: register to receive the Zoom link)
This workshop introduces the Brown Faculty Open Access Policy, paths for making preprints and accepted author manuscripts open access, and current agreements that Brown has with publishers to waive fee for publishing open access in participating journals (will be recorded for those unable to attend).
Complying with the NIH Public Access Policy
Thursday, 10/22, noon to 1 p.m. (online only: register to receive the Zoom link)
This workshop introduces the NIH Public Access Policy and process of depositing an accepted manuscript in PubMed Central (PMC), journal-implemented barriers to embargo-free PMC deposit, and alternative options for NIH-funded authors. We will also review new authorship guidelines from the Brown Division of Research pertaining to federally-funded authors’ public access compliance.
New Sage Open Access Publishing Agreement
Brown University authors can now publish open access in many Sage journals without paying an article processing charge (APC). The participating hybrid journals (link downloads an Excel spreadsheet) include many titles in the health sciences and public health.
To be eligible for the fee waiver, the corresponding author must be affiliated with Brown and have an article accepted for publication in a participating journal that has entered or will enter production between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2028.
More details on Brown’s open access fee waiver agreements and discounts with other publishers can be found on our guide to paying for open access publications.
Supporting the Sharing of Preprints
Did you know that Brown is among the institutions contributing to supporting ArXiv, the preprint server for the physical sciences, as well as BioRxiv and MedRxiv, for sharing preprints in the biological and health sciences?
Check out Brown’s dedicated channel of preprints shared via BioRxiv and MedRxiv.
Sharing Clinical Data
Brown currently is in the second year of its pilot membership with the open access data sharing repository Vivli. Vivli is a controlled-access repository for sharing anonymized data from clinical trials and other protocol-driven, prospective clinical studies, including Real World Data (RWD). This means that other researchers have to apply for access by providing details about their study and IRB approval/exemption and signing a Data Use Agreement (DUA).
Sunsetting of OSF Projects
The Center for Open Science (COS) is ending support for OSF Projects, the project management/data repository component of the Open Science Framework (OSF). Please note: this will not impact OSF Preprints, OSF Preregistrations, or OSF Registered Reports.
As of November 16, 2026, OSF Projects users will no longer be able to create new OSF Projects or child components within existing projects. On February 19, 2027, all existing OSF Projects will be read-only. You will continue to have access to all project materials, but no further changes or additions can be made. All public projects will remain persistent, discoverable, and accessible at the same URLs and DOIs. Private content will remain accessible to collaborators via an existing view-only-link.
COS has provided extensive information regarding the reasoning behind and logistics for sunsetting OSF Projects. If you are an active OSF Projects user, we strongly recommend you review their detailed transition guide, which includes recommendations of other file and data repositories. If you have questions about how to proceed, or would like to migrate copies of your OSF Projects materials to in-house platforms such as the Brown Digital Repository (BDR) or LabArchives@Brown, please contact data_management@brown.edu.