After the OpenCon 2014 satellite event in London, two early career researchers, Jon Tennant and Ross Mounce, realised that it’s still too difficult for many people new to Open Access and Open Data to understand key terms which the community uses. Lingo, jargon, terminology, whatever you call it, an internal vocabulary often provides barriers to discussions that the ‘open’ community is having, and we feel a responsibility to make these discussions easier to understand.

Enter the Open Research Glossary. Jon and Ross spent an evening in the pub (where else...) putting together a first draft of this document, then released it to the community. Quickly others, seeing the potential value, began to contribute, and soon they’d put together a comprehensive glossary for open research.

Initially released as a PDF, we’ve been working with Jon and Ross to provide the glossary in a variety of other formats and ensure it’s discoverable, useful, and updatable. We’ve released the latest iteration on the Right to Research Coalition website and invite the community to join us in adding new content and keeping the glossary up to date.

Related links:

• Jon’s first post about the Glossary, and it’s update.

• View the Open Research Glossary

• Update the Glossary here.

• Cite the Glossary via Figshare