About Open Access Week

Open Access Week is a global event that promotes free access to and sharing of research.
In 2025, it will take place from October 20 to 26.

During this week, researchers, librarians, and policymakers join forces to promote the importance of Open Access (OA).

The theme for 2025 is:
"Who Owns Our Knowledge?"

As AI and commercial publishing grow in influence, this theme encourages us to rethink how knowledge is shared and evaluated, and offers an opportunity to explore community-driven approaches to knowledge.

In recent years, efforts to make research freely available have become increasingly diverse, with researchers and institutions actively working to share their knowledge widely.

At Kyushu University Library, we actively promote OA through ongoing dialogue with researchers.
Open Access is gaining global attention—why not take your first step during this week?

About Mandatory Immediate OA

In 2024, the Cabinet Office announced the “National Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data”.
Researchers receiving certain newly solicited competitive research grants—such as KAKENHI, JST, and AMED—starting in FY 2025 will be required to make the following research outputs immediately open access:

• Peer-reviewed research papers (including accepted manuscripts) published in e-journals.
• Evidence data (e.g., supplemental files)

Two main methods of publication are recognized:

• Green OA (free): Deposit in your institution’s repository (Kyushu University Institutional Repository, QIR)
• Gold OA (paid): Pay an APC (Article Processing Charge) and publish in a e-journal

Each outputs must be assigned a persistent identifier such as a DOI, and researchers must report to the funding agency.

For details, please visit:

Mandating immediate Open Access (OA) to research outputs (Kyushu University Library)

Highlighting QIR Content on X (formerly Twitter)

During Open Access Week (October 20–26, 2025), the official Kyushu University Library X account will feature a variety of content deposited in the Kyushu University Institutional Repository (QIR) every day.
Check out Kyushu University’s open access research outputs with #九大リポジトリ.

Kyushu University Library X: 
@QLib_info

Contact:
Kyushu University Library OA Support Team
https://www.lib.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/contact-form