Berlin 9 OA Conference Urging More, Faster

"In 2003, international research, scientific, and cultural institutions issued The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities promoting the Internet as a medium for disseminating global knowledge. In order to support continued adoption of the principles outlined in the Berlin Declaration, as well to track progress on their implementation, the original 19 signatories agreed to support regular follow-up meetings. During the first four years, the conferences were designed to explore strategies for building Open Access (OA); presentations during the next few years took stock of various efforts within the OA movement. Last year’s conference in China highlighted the need for access to information to build an informed citizenry. Berlin 9 took place on Nov. 9-10, 2011 at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Md., the first of the annual meetings to take place in North America. The theme of this year’s conference, The Impact of Open Access in Research & Scholarship, drew 260 researchers, research funders, open-access advocates, commercial publishers, and policy makers. Presenters stressed the benefits of putting research “quickly and freely into the hands of scholars, students, innovators, and the general public.” ..."