Spotlight on EDI initiatives

The Radcliffe Science Library values diversity and inclusion and is committed to fostering an environment where all students feel welcome, respected, and have a strong sense of belonging. To support this mission, we are highlighting some of the excellent work by members of the University.

For this term, the library has chosen to celebrate the work done by:

  • The Oxford Chemists – Charlie Simms, Manami Imada, Sofia Olendraru, Felicity Smith, Josie Sams, Charlotte Oliver, Amygrace Berger, Elba Feo, addressing menstruation and its challenges during lab work.
  • Dr Gbemisola David-West, Dr Debbie Aitken Obstetrics, and Professor Arathi Sriprakash on racial discrimination and resilience among Black doctors.

They highlight the challenges women experience in labs and at work and the experience of Black doctors during postgraduate training.

MPLS – Winner of the MPLS EDI Awards 2024 in category Best Initiative

PERIODically Podcast created by Oxford Chemists, Charlie Simms, Manami Imada, Sofia Olendraru, Felicity Smith, Josie Sams, Charlotte Oliver, Amygrace Berger, Elba Feo.

Logo for PERIODically podccast.

PERIODically is a podcast by Oxford chemistry students exploring how the physical, medical and mental health aspects of periods impact studying chemistry, addressing challenges, stereotypes, and ways to improve the experience for those with periods.

Listen to the podcast on: Amazon, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. More information available on the MPLS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Awards 2024 webpage.

Related reading

MSD – Research carried out by Dr Gbemisola David-West, Dr Debbie Aitken and Professor Arathi Sriprakash on racial discrimination and resilience among Black doctors

Illustration of a black female doctor.

Dr Gbemisola David-West, Obstetrics and Gynaecology Registrar & Clinical Teaching Fellow, Dr Debbie Aitken, Supervisor and Course director in Medical Education, and Professor Arathi Sriprakash, Supervisor and Professor of Sociology and Education, have summarised their research into the poster ‘Understanding the Postgraduate Training Experiences of Black doctors: A Study of Resilience.’

Available via ORA.

Related reading

  • Chilakala, A., Camacho-Rivera, M., & Frye, V. (2022). Experiences of race- and gender-based discrimination among Black female physicians. Journal of the National Medical Association., 114(1), 104–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnma.2021.12.008 
  • Jerome, B., Fassiotto, M., Maldonado, Y. B., & Dunn, T. (2024). Barriers and Facilitators to the Success of Black Academic Physicians. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-024-02201-y 

A selection of specific journals for EDI research

Opening Up Research

Publishing your research open access means making it free for anybody, anywhere in the world to access and read. It often also means giving others the freedom to reuse or adapt research while still ensuring that you are credited as the original author. That could, for example, allow somebody to create a translation of research into a different language so that it can be read by a wider audience. Open access can have advantages for both authors and readers. Authors can benefit from increased dissemination and citations of their work. Readers get free, equitable access to high-quality research (for more background on open access see https://openaccess.ox.ac.uk/start-here).

The reasons for choosing open access publication can vary. You might be committed to open science and sharing your research. Perhaps your funder requires you to publish research open access. Maybe you work with other scientists whose institution’s policy mandates open access publishing. Once you decide to publish open access, the path to actually doing so can be rocky!

Some journals will charge a publication fee called an Article Processing Charge. Depending on your funding status you may be able to claim this money from your funder. Alternatively, you could choose to deposit a version of your article with no charge into an institutional repository like the Oxford University Research Archive. The University of Oxford currently has a range of publisher deals which allow even unfunded researchers to publish open access papers in certain scientific journals with no charge. Deciding between all these different options can be confusing. To help researchers, we have the Open Access Oxford (OAO) website.

The OAO website has all the information you need, from the background to open access publishing and methods to deposit your research through to advice on how to pay open access costs. If your question isn’t covered on the site, you’ll find details for contacting the open access team for further help.

You can use the OAO site to keep up to date with new developments in open access such as changes in open access polices and the University’s approach to open access.

Finally, if you want to get a sound grasp on open access, it’s a great idea to attend one of our regular free training sessions. For beginners we would highly recommend our Fundamentals of Open Access session.

A row of open doors in different primary and secondary colours, each containing a narrow vertical glass panel.

ORA COVID-19 Collection – preserving Oxford’s COVID-19 response

The University of Oxford has been at the forefront of the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of this activity is reflected in the wide array of research outputs – journal articles, conference papers, working papers, preprints, and more – that have been produced in this area.

The Bodleian Libraries Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) COVID-19 Collection seeks to provide a one-stop point of access to all of these outputs, focusing on the full-text items available via ORA, and links to Oxford COVID-related research in a range of other locations. The ORA COVID-19 Collection ensures that these materials are available not only for today’s readers but also in perpetuity – to illuminate the story of the University’s contribution to the pandemic response for future generations.

Highlights include:

This is a live collection that is still being developed and we value your thoughts, comments and suggested additions. Contact ora@bodleian.ox.ac.uk or complete the webform.

If you are a member of the University of Oxford and can’t see your COVID-related paper here, then deposit your accepted manuscript to ORA.