Open Access Week,
now entering its fifth year, is a global event which promotes the benefits of open access publishing. This year, BioMed Central will be celebrating the week with
a strong ‘global’ focus spanning an impressive four continents.

Open Access Africa 2011

Open
Access Africa 2011, a free conference hosted by BioMed Central in Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, takes
place from 25-26 October 2011. The event aims to raise awareness of open access
among African researchers and discuss methods to ensure African research
receives the international recognition it deserves. Representatives from
Google, British Medical Journal, African Medical and Research Foundation
(AMREF), Pan African Medical Journal, Development for International Development
(DFID) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa will review open
access publishing in Africa from library, funding and technology perspectives.

Internet Librarian International 2011

BioMed Central will be presenting at the Internet Librarian International
2011 conference in London where the publisher has been asked to contribute
to discussions surrounding the theme of ‘Driving Collaboration with
Repositories.’

2011 Open Access Korea Conference

The Open Access Conference aims to share and explore the
strategies, policies, implementation approaches, and other collaborative
efforts for Open Access in Korea. BioMed Central will be exhibiting at the conference, Wednesday 26 Oct
from 13:00 – 18:00.

Author workshops 

BioMed Central and Springer will be presenting at the
following workshops where English language editing company, Edanz, will provide
an introduction to their training program and online materials designed to
address publishing challenges faced by non-native English speakers.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Thursday
27 Oct from 9:00.

Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy
of Sciences Thursday 27 Oct from 14:00

Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine Friday 28
Oct from 13:30

An
institution’s response to open access

This presentation
will discuss the growth of
open access and will outline how institutions can tangibly support authors and
open access mandates. The presentation will also outline the extent to
which open access publishing raises the visibility and impact of that
institution’s research, ultimately increasing citations and the prestige of
their organisation.

Stockholm
University, Sweden, Tuesday 25 Oct at 11.00

Swedish
University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden, Thursday 27 Oct at 12.15

A
historical overview of open access publishing

A historical overview of open access publishing in the
context of "open" movements and implications for future scholarly
publishing will be giving during Open Access Week at University of
Manitoba, George Mason University, University of Virginia and City University
of New York. 

An aptly universal and borderless celebration of open access
to research. We hope you’ll be able to join us!