Serving Global Communities: Expanding our Research4Life partnership
CSIRO Publishing Director Arend Kuester attended the Research4Life recommitment event at the 2024 STM Conference in Frankfurt. Photo: supplied by Evalyne Wanjiru, Communications Director, Research4Life
Open Access provides immediate, online access to scholarly research without subscription costs. It makes it possible for academics, policy makers, practitioners, and the public to be able to view, cite, and share research freely.
Every year, International Open Access Week raises awareness of the benefits of Open Access, with the goal to inspire wider participation in helping to make it the norm in scholarship and research. This year the event’s focus is on the theme of community, something close to our own hearts.
Jenny Foster, Head of Journals Publishing
Jenny Foster, Head of Journals Publishing, is leading the expansion of Open Access publishing in our journals publishing program.
“Across the globe, there are community organisations, research groups, and practitioners that cannot access subscription journals, nor do they have the budget to cover copyright fees,” she says. “By making research more open, we remove these barriers, allowing more people to use this knowledge to inform future research, policy development, and decision-making.”
We have been advancing our efforts towards Open Access for several years by setting up agreements with institutional libraries to support the dissemination of accessible research to everyone in the world with an internet connection. All of our journals now have Open Access options across a range of Creative Commons licences that support the recognition of authors as well as varied sharing options.
“Open Access makes for a more equitable world – and we feel passionate about supporting that!” Jenny says.
Our commitment to researchers in lower income countries
We have been working with Research4Life since 2015 to ensure subscription access content published in CSIRO-owned journals is accessible in eligible lower income countries at low or no cost.
Research4Life provides institutions in these countries with online access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content. Their aim is to improve teaching, research and policymaking in health, agriculture, the environment and other life, physical and social sciences.
In 2024, we expanded our collaboration with Research4Life to include our full suite of scholarly journals to all eligible countries.
“Our society partners were delighted to support this initiative,” says Jenny. “Community is fundamental to any scholarly society, and we are keen to ensure that the science published in our journals is accessible to support research and development in these countries.”
Open Access waivers coming in 2025
In 2025 we will broaden this relationship even further by removing the barrier of Article Processing Charges (APC) from corresponding authors based in countries nominated by Research4Life (Group A and B) for the majority of our journals. The waivers will ensure authors in these countries can publish their work as Open Access without the requirement to be part of an institutional agreement or pay an APC, ensuring research journals are including more diverse perspectives and voices.
Science is a collaborative process and is often conducted across countries and regions. As part of the research community our purpose is to enhance the impact of science by communicating the outcomes of research wherever that happens in the world.
To learn more about the general benefits of publishing with CSIRO Publishing visit For Authors on our website.
Read more about International Open Access Week and Research4Life [external links].
