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Started in 2013 by students

We got our start as the Open Access Button, but as our tools grew, so did we. OA.Works is now the home of our tools.

Sustained by a community

We build in partnership with librarians and open advocates striving for a just and kind world. We’ve been fortunate to have the backing of generous funders.

History

Our journey from 2013 to now.

  • 2024

    • OA.Report supports impact tracking for cOAlition S and delivers compliance checks across all member organizations
    • ShareYourPaper Permissions’ integration with the Journal Checker Tool reaches 1 million uses by authors finding a way to make their work open
    • OA.Support supports over 1,000 authors to make their work available
    • IFLA takes over the long-term running of RSCVD as a free international interlibrary loan system
    • OA.Works grows rapidly, with team members based in the USA, UK, India, and New Zealand, advancing the mission around the clock

  • 2023

    • OA.Report is adopted by several funders, mentioned in major media outlets, and opens up free reports to funders
    • OA.Works adopts and shares its Articles of Governance to deepen its commitment to building open-source, values-driven, nonprofit tools for the long term
    • Founders Pledge supports OA.Report
    • OA.Works turns ten 🎂

  • 2022

    • OA.Works joins Code for Science & Society as a fiscally sponsored project
    • The OA.Works Advisory Committee is formed to help govern growing work
    • At a United Nations library event, ShareYourPaper joins a campaign to help climate scientists unlock their papers and accelerate progress on climate change
    • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation begins supporting OA.Report

  • 2021

    • The Open Access Button rebrands as OA.Works, reflecting its growing portfolio of open access tools
    • Plan S releases the Journal Checker Tool backed by our permissions data
    • ShareYourPaper For Libraries is released
    • OA.Works receives funding from the Gates Foundation to support OA.report, OA.support, and ShareYourPaper
    • OA.Report & OA.Support are launched to support organizations in measuring and implementing their Open Access policies

  • 2020

    • RSCVD is released, built in partnership with IFLA, to help respond to libraries closing during Covid
    • Arcadia Fund increases its financial support to $1.8 million over four years
    • ShareYourPaper is built and released in partnership with Montana State University

  • 2019

    • InstantILL is built and released in partnership with IUPUI
    • Open Access Button Permissions Checker is released
    • The first libraries begin backing our tools financially through a Leadership tier

  • 2018

    • Arcadia Fund supports Open Access Button with $440,000 grant
    • DeliverOA, EmbedOA, and OAsheet are released to help libraries save money and time on ILL
    • Direct2AAM is released, documenting a novel way to help authors make their papers Open Access

  • 2017

    • Jisc funds exploration for using Open Access materials as a part of Interlibrary Loan to deliver cost savings and faster results

  • 2016

    • The Open Access Button collects its 10,000th story
    • The Open Data Button is released

  • 2015

    • Open Access Button is awarded the SPARC Innovator Award
    • OA.Works joins SPARC to be incubated as an independently managed and funded sub-project of SPARC

  • 2014

    • Right To Research Coalition and Open Society Foundation fund more early tool development
    • Open Access Button is updated to be able to find open access versions and email authors requests

  • 2013

    • Open Access Button is first released, capturing thousands of stories of people hitting paywalls

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