Open Access Success Stories

Open access (OA) is a strength of KU and KU Libraries. As part of the Libraries' annual celebration of Open Access Week (#OAWeek), we present video testimonials from KU OA advocates. These OA success stories showcase a range of disciplines and highlight a variety of OA opportunities and services available at KU. See "Helpful Links" for more information about the resources mentioned.

Paulyn Cartwright

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

"Science is very fast-paced. Having that opportunity of getting our data out and getting it to the public where they can see it, use it, build upon it ... things progress a lot faster that way."

Amy Mendenhall

Faculty Affairs & Social Welfare

Many organizations can't afford access to research in closed journals. "It became clear to me that we really needed to be figuring out how to get our information into the hands of the practitioners."

Meggie Mapes

Communications Studies

"On a very basic and fundamental level it brings me back to the spirit of publishing and research, which is my research is for the betterment of community."

Michael Vitevitch

Speech-Language-Hearing

Open access provides a channel, connecting point for multi-disciplinary researchers and has enabled citizen science and public engagement.

Shannon O'Lear

Environmental Studies

"(Open reviews and open publishing) makes it a process where everybody is visible, everybody is part of that work of getting that research out into the world ... open access can be really powerful at any stage of your career."

Rami Zeedan

Jewish Studies

"Open access provides freely accessible material to researchers, to the public, in regions that might not have the resources available in the Western context."