Read our news item: https://www.hifa.org/news/hifa-announces-deep-dive-discussion-healthcare...
Dear CHIFA colleagues,
On behalf of the HIFA Steering Group I am delighted to announce a new HIFA Project that will look at healthcare professionals' experiences and perceptions of open access publishing. The centrepiece of the project will be an in-depth thematic discussion here on the HIFA and CHIFA forums, held over 5 weeks from 13 October to 15 November. The project is sponsored by Oxford PharmaGenesis, a HealthScience communications consultancy based near Oxford UK.
We invite you to forward this message to your contacts and invite them to join HIFA in readiness: www.hifa.org/join
We also invite HIFA volunteers to join the new HIFA Open Access working group to help us implement the project. To register your interest and for further information, please email neil@hifa.org by 12 September.
Further details below.
Definition: 'Open access to scientific literature means free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself.' (BOAI, 2002)
For the purpose of this project we shall focus mainly on peer-reviewed academic research papers, which are mostly published in biomedical research journals. The discussion will be global, including a focus on low- and middle-income countries, reflecting the global distribution of the HIFA membership (20,000 members in 180 countries).
We shall seek input from all stakeholders in the global evidence ecosystem (1 researchers, 2 journal publishers, 3 systematic reviewers, 4 publishers of content for end-users, 5 library and information professionals, and 6 healthcare professionals, among others):
Objectives
1. Develop a collective understanding of open access issues
2. Develop a collective understanding of the open access needs of healthcare professionals (HCPs) in their capacity as authors and as readers of biomedical research communication
3. Capture health professionals current understanding of open access policies and creative commons licences
4. Explore the role of open access in relation to the components of the global evidence ecosystem
5. Explore how to maximise the benefits/drivers of open access and how to minimize any barriers.
6. Describe the issues in relation to different user groups (readers, authors); different professional groups (students, healthcare professionals, researchers); and different countries (LMIC/HIC; regional and national differences)
7. Explore how to improve knowledge of open access among different user groups/professions
It is anticipated that the outputs will be published in manuscript form and presented at publisher and medical communications congresses, for example, the Annual Meeting of the International Society of Medical Publication Professionals (Washington DC, April 2026).
Approach
This project provides the second part of a two-part consultation led by Oxford PharmaGenesis on behalf of Open Pharma. The first part of this work was an online survey completed by Oxford PharmaGenesis in June/July 2025. Headline results of this survey will be available as we progress to the current HIFA Project.
This work links directly with Open Pharma, a multi-sponsor collaborative project of pharma companies and publishers, facilitated by Oxford PharmaGenesis, seeking to drive transparency in the communication of medial research. Open Pharma s position statement is available here: https://www.openpharma.blog/position-statement-on-open-access/ This details immediate priorities and long-term goals regarding open access policies and Creative Commons licences to improve transparency, advance medical science and ultimately improve patient care. Oxford Pharmagenesis hopes that the findings from the survey and thematic discussion will continue to build a case for the importance of open access in biomedical publishing.
- Increase awareness of Open Pharma and its Position Statement
- Discuss specifics about open access of pharma-funded research.
Implementation
The HIFA coordinator will convene a new Open Access working group to steer the project, including representatives of Oxford Pharmagenesis/Open Pharma and volunteers from the HIFA membership. The working group will be responsible for clarifying the objectives of the project, and planning and implementing discussion on the HIFA forums. This will include articulation of 5 questions to be introduced on the forums sequentially week by week.
NOTE: Please email neil@hifa.org by 12 September if you would like to join the working group, with a brief description of any relevant experience you may have.
Acknowledgement
HIFA is grateful for sponsorship from Oxford PharmaGenesis, a HealthScience communications consultancy based near Oxford UK.
Many thanks, Neil
CHIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based NGO in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org