The Role of Conferences in Promoting Open Science and Open Access
Open access publishing spread faster once researchers started seeing it modeled, not just mandated. Conferences turned out to be an effective place for that modeling, largely by accident, sessions on open data and open publishing became a normal fixture rather than a special track, and the cumulative effect on field-wide norms has been significant.
Seeing it done is more persuasive than reading about it
A session where a researcher walks through publishing openly, including the tradeoffs, does more to shift behavior than an institutional mandate memo most people skim and forget. Watching a respected peer navigate the practical decisions around open publishing normalizes it in a way policy documents rarely manage.
Conferences are a low-stakes place to try data sharing
Presenting a shared dataset or open protocol to a room of peers, and getting immediate feedback, gives researchers a lower-risk way to test open practices before committing to them at the journal-submission stage. This trial-run function is one of the more underappreciated ways conferences quietly de-risk open science adoption.
Conference proceedings themselves are increasingly open
Beyond modeling open practices, many conference series have moved their own proceedings to open-access models over the past decade, sometimes ahead of comparable journals in the same field. This shift has been particularly pronounced in computer science, where conference proceedings often function as the primary publication venue.
Policy still trails practice here
Plenty of conferences now host open-access sessions while their own proceedings remain paywalled, a contradiction that’s slowly resolving but still common enough to be worth noting rather than glossing over. Attendees and presenters increasingly push back on this inconsistency, which has itself become a driver of change at some venues.
Funder mandates and conference culture reinforce each other
As more funders require open access publication, conferences that already model and normalize open practices make compliance feel less like a burden and more like an established professional norm, a dynamic that’s accelerated the broader shift toward open science across many fields.
What researchers can do to support this shift
- Choose conferences whose proceedings are genuinely open access where a comparable option exists
- Present openly where appropriate, and discuss the practical tradeoffs honestly in sessions
- Ask conference organizers directly about their proceedings’ access policy
- Support sessions specifically dedicated to open science practices with genuine attendance
Frequently asked questions
Are open-access conference proceedings as prestigious as paywalled ones?
Increasingly yes, in many fields open-access proceedings from established conferences carry equal or greater prestige, particularly as norms shift and funder mandates make open access standard practice.
How can I tell if a conference’s proceedings are actually open access?
Check the publisher’s policy directly rather than assuming, some conferences use hybrid models where only some accepted papers are open by default.
Does presenting openly at a conference create scooping risk?
See our guide on IP ownership and the scooping concern for a realistic look at this risk and how to manage it.