Sustainability, Open Science and Scholarly Communications

The United Nations has identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as targets to aim for when tackling the most pressing issues facing our world. Among the many recent crises, COVID-19's grip on the globe particularly underscores how science and research must be central to the conversations that address emerging and deep systemic problems alike. The problems that underlie the SDGs demand the attention of the scholarly communication community, higher education, and academic research. However, our conversations can no longer just be "academic"—they must be one with a much higher social consciousness attached to it. This session will address ways that the scientific community can drive change and wider societal outreach through open science policies and by embracing SDGs as a key topic in research impact, mission, and practice. It will also explore the changes that the scientific community can be in addition to those that it makes.