The Open Access Button Needs YOU to Make Research OA

You can find openly accessible research with the Open Access Button — but what about research not yet publicly available? That’s where our request system comes in! Thousands of articles and datasets have been requested from our users. When we request research, authors archive! But before we can send a request to the author encouraging them to share their research in a repository, each request must be manually moderated.

Our next step is to go from new request to contacting the author in under four hours. This is where we need your help. Together we can make more research open one request at a time. We are looking for volunteers to moderate requests in order to accelerate the process from request to newly archived, openly accessible research. As a request system volunteer, you would be set up as an admin in the request system and have the ability to manage and help process requests whenever you have time. The system is extremely easy to use, no difficult technical skills are required. You’ll also get to learn more about the reasons users submit requests and value the importance of open access. Whether you have 15 minutes, 1 hour, or more time to give, you can sign up for shifts and help make more research openly available!

If you are interested in volunteering with us please join our Gitter group. We’d love to work with you to make more research open one request at a time.