17th Berlin Open Access Conference
The 17th Berlin Open Access Conference (B17) brought together national delegations of research institutions and their libraries from around the world to assess progress in their transformation strategies, collectively advancing a more open scholarly publishing system and addressing emerging challenges in the increasingly complex research communication ecosystem.
Hosted by the Max Planck Society and organized by the OA2020 Initiative, B17 featured panel sessions and strategic discussions with delegates and publisher guests to tackle current priorities in the transition to open access. While recognizing the progress made since B16, discussions highlighted the continued need to address restrictive licensing practices that limit authors’ rights, promote the adoption of differential pricing, and develop central open publishing frameworks to reduce financial barriers for authors. Transparency was identified as a key requirement in stewarding the open access transition and preventing the risk that profit-driven motives compromise quality in research communication.
With insights from library consortia across six continents engaged in open access negotiations, the B17 cohort reaffirmed its commitment to advancing a fair, inclusive, and author-driven practices in scholarly journal publishing while continuing to support new, community-led models of open scholarship.
