Date: January 13, 2022
Time: 16:00 – 17:15 CEST

"The sharing of the COVID genome by researchers, preprinting, and a commitment by many publishers to make all the COVID research they published freely available, has become a poster child for the power of Open Science. And within one year of the pandemic being announced, there were not one but five viable vaccines globally available – a remarkable human achievement. What is the evidence that the scholarly communications system contributed to this progress? In particular, can we now seize the opportunity to use the evidence to improve the way all global scholarly knowledge is shared, evaluated and communicated? 

At the beginning of the pandemic, OASPA endorsed and published an open letter of intent from a small group of publishers and others who wanted to work together to speed up the review of COVID19 research articles. The group formed in direct response to a Wellcome statement calling on the community to make research and data about COVID19 rapidly and freely accessible. The Research on Research Institute (RoRI) worked as scientific advisors to the rapid review group to collect, share and analyse data, not just from the participants, but about the scholarly communications system as a whole. The resulting report, including analyses of preprinting, data sharing, peer review practices and the social and scientific attention that COVID papers received, was published on Dec 6th 2021. 

In this OASPA webinar, members of RoRI summarise the approach and evidence that has informed the key recommendations of the report. We also hear responses to the report – and reactions to how publishers and others shaped up – from key representatives involved in the pandemic and an early career researcher who explains why he has committed to forgo the normal journal route to publication and make all his work available as preprints".

Register here.

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