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©2023 American Medical Writers Association. All rights reserved.  
ISSN 2163-5315

AMWAJournal.org     7

THEME ARTICLE

ABSTRACT
Open Pharma is a non-profit-seeking collaboration that 
aims to make the communication of pharma-sponsored 
research faster, more transparent, more accessible, and 
more sustainable, focusing on open science principles such 
as open access and plain language. Open Pharma includes 
16 Member and Supporter companies representing the 
pharma and publishing industries and is facilitated by 
Oxford PharmaGenesis, a HealthScience consultancy. We 
believe that innovating the current publications model for 
pharma research is essential to accelerate medical progress, 
improve patient care, and increase trust in evidence from 
the pharma industry.
 Open Pharma works as a think tank that seeks to “move 
the needle,” a research hub that produces evidence, a knowl-
edge-sharing “club,” and a forum for member voices. Our 
research, resources, and events are designed to educate, 
broaden perspectives, and foster connections. We also seek 
to identify needs and solutions and to develop guidance that 
supports best practice and positive change across the sector. 
 Medical writers are uniquely positioned to under-
stand the benefits of open science and to communicate 
them to their clients. They have an important part to play 
in promoting the innovations that will increase the quality, 
transparency, and accountability of medical research com-
munication, which Open Pharma supports.

THE ORIGINS OF OPEN PHARMA
Open Pharma is a multisponsor collaboration that aims 
to drive positive change in the communication of phar-
ma-sponsored research. Trust in pharma industry research 
was, and still is, estimated to be low,1,2 despite pharma com-
panies funding at least half of the biopharmaceutical research 
carried out in the United States and the United Kingdom.3,4 
Established in 2016, Open Pharma was set up in recognition 
that improving trust in pharma research publications is a goal 
shared by multiple stakeholders working across the pharma-
ceutical, publishing, and medical communication sectors, 
and one only realized through collective action. 

 Oxford PharmaGenesis, as an independent 
HealthScience consultancy working across these sectors, 
was well-positioned to listen to and connect conversations 
from different stakeholder groups that share a commitment 
to improving the pharma publications model. Thus, Open 
Pharma was launched as a member-led, non-profit-seek-
ing project facilitated by Oxford PharmaGenesis. We strive 
to improve the pharma publications model by connecting 
pharma with innovations in publishing to increase trans-
parency and broaden access to research outputs. 

KEY OBJECTIVES AND MISSION
Open Pharma is a collaboration of forward-thinking rep-
resentatives from organizations working across health 
care research communication. Members and Supporters 
contribute to Open Pharma financially at different levels. 
Members advise and vote on the strategic direction for 
Open Pharma, and both Members and Supporters are 
involved in discussions, events, and research projects. 
Current Open Pharma Members include AstraZeneca, 
Boehringer Ingelheim, Galápagos, Gilead Sciences, GSK, 
Janssen, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Oxford PharmaGenesis, 
Pfizer, Takeda, and UCB, and current Supporters include 
Bristol Myers Squibb, Ipsen, Roche, and Taylor & Francis. 
 Nonpaying stakeholders include advisors and follow-
ers. Advisors represent policy groups, publishers, academic 
funders, patients, and open science innovators and take 
part in meetings and other activities. Open Pharma fol-
lowers are the varied group of people who read our blog 
and newsletter, engage with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and 
YouTube, take part in our public events, and use the infor-
mation and resources available on our website.
 Open Pharma has clearly defined aims (set out in a 
charter) that support the goal of improving the pharma pub-
lications model. We believe that pharma company–funded 
research should be published in a way that is transpar-
ent, accountable, accessible, and discoverable (Figure 1). 
Operationally, Open Pharma works on multiple levels: as a 
think tank that seeks to move the needle, as a research hub 

Jo Gordon, MA, VetMB, PhD / Medical Writer, Oxford PharmaGenesis, Oxford, UK

Open Pharma: Driving Positive Change in the Communication  
of Pharma-Sponsored Research

THEME ARTICLE

http://www.amwajournal.org
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/
https://twitter.com/_openpharma
http://www.linkedin.com/showcase/open-pharma
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCECsUSxIvUiNjYHqn9vqLtg
https://www.openpharma.blog/resources/
https://www.openpharma.blog/
https://www.openpharma.blog/about-us/
https://www.openpharma.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2020-01-15-Charter-of-Open-Pharma.pdf


AMWAJournal.org     8Open Pharma: Driving Positive Change in the Communication of Pharma-Sponsored Research

that produces evidence, as a knowledge-sharing “club,” and 
as a forum for member voices. A varied range of activities 
support our road map to open science in this space  
(Figure 2).

OPEN PHARMA: A THINK TANK
Open Access Position Statement 
Open Pharma promotes publishing with open access to 
ensure that high-quality, peer-reviewed evidence is avail-
able to anyone who needs it, anywhere in the world, with-
out charge. Publishing open access improves transparency, 
advances medical science, and, we believe, ultimately 
improves patient care (Figure 3). However, access to pharma 
company research is often more restricted by journal pay-
walls than research funded by other sources. 

 The first landmark achievement of Open Pharma was our 
open access position statement. In the statement, we high-
light as an immediate priority the need to secure authors 
publishing company-funded research the same right to pub-
lish open access as authors publishing research funded by 
other sources so that all research can be made free to read 
from the date of publication. We also state that our long-term 
goal is to secure the same licensing terms for authors pub-
lishing company-funded research and authors publishing 
research funded by other sources, including using the most 
permissive Creative Commons license, Creative Commons 
Attribution license (CC BY), for all articles. 
 As of May 4, 2023, our position statement has been 
endorsed >250 times by individual and institutional stake-
holders – including publishers, pharma companies, patient 

Figure 1. The aims of Open Pharma. PLS, plain language summary.

Figure 2. Open Pharma road map to open science for pharma research communication. ORCID, Open Researcher and Contributor ID; 
PLS, plain language summary.

http://www.amwajournal.org
https://www.openpharma.blog/open-access-dashboard/
https://www.openpharma.blog/position-statement-on-open-access/


AMWAJournal.org     9Open Pharma: Driving Positive Change in the Communication of Pharma-Sponsored Research

Figure 3. Benefits of open access. Adapted from Kingsley D and Brown 
S.11 CC BY, Creative Commons Attribution license.

Figure 4. Infographic: Open Pharma recommendations for plain language summaries of peer-reviewed medical journal publications. Adapted/
Reprinted from Rosenberg A et al.6,7 PLS, plain language summaries.

advocacy groups, and organizations engaged in open schol-
arship. Many Open Pharma Members and Supporters have 
used the statement to raise awareness of open access within 
their companies and set open access targets, which is likely 
to have contributed to the rise in open access publishing 
observed across the sector in recent years.

Plain Language Summary Recommendations
Plain language summaries (PLS) are now an accepted way 
to make the content of medical research articles accessible 
to nonspecialist and time-challenged readers. Until 2020, 
however, consistent guidance on how to develop PLS was 
lacking, which limited their use. 
 Open Pharma recognized this unmet need and 
responded by organizing a roundtable of experts and a 
public consultation to discuss the issue and went on to 
develop and publish a PLS recommendations article and 
infographic (Figure 4).5-7 With >10,000 views and 8 citations 
to date (as of May 25, 2023), we believe that our recom-
mendations article is contributing to important changes in 
research publications, including an emerging consensus 

More exposure 
for your work

Practitioners can 
apply your findings

Researchers in 
developing countries 

can see your work

Taxpayers get value 
for money

Higher citation 
rates

Your research can 
influence policy

Compliant with  
grant rules

The public can 
access your findings

http://www.amwajournal.org
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03007995.2021.1971185
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03007995.2022.2072570?src=recsys


AMWAJournal.org     10Open Pharma: Driving Positive Change in the Communication of Pharma-Sponsored Research

about PLS best practice among some publishers,8 adoption 
of mandatory policies or recommended PLS practices by 
pharma companies,9 and an update to the Good Publication 
Practice Guidelines for Company-Sponsored Biomedical 
Research advising publication of PLS for all clinical  
research articles.10 

OPEN PHARMA: A RESEARCH HUB
Educational Material
Open Pharma has developed a bank of resources that are 
freely available on our website for anyone to use. This mate-
rial can help medical writers, pharma companies, and 
publishers to become more aware of open science and 
implement open science practices in their day-to-day work. 
Resources include a crib sheet for developing plain lan-
guage documents, a toolkit for adopting Open Researcher 
and Contributor IDs (ORCID) in publications, and educa-
tional slides about open access. 

Research Projects
Open Pharma research poster presentations are also freely 
available on our resources page. These posters summarize 
various analyses of open access for pharma company-sup-
ported articles, use of ORCIDs in pharma-affiliated pub-
lications, and discoverability of PLS. Here, we highlight 3 
examples of recent or ongoing Open Pharma research.

Discoverability of PLS. Concise text-based PLS can assist 
a nonexpert and time-constrained audience to find and 
use published research. PubMed is one of the most widely 
used platforms for accessing biomedical research and, since 
2019, text-based PLS hosted on this platform can be dis-
covered when tagged (electronically labeled) with a PLS-
specific label, the <plain-language-summary> metatag.12 To 
assess how PLS are being indexed (labeled and organized) 
on PubMed, Open Pharma carried out an automated search 
of the presence and use of the PLS metatag. Our results 
uncovered an unmet need for explicit guidance on both the 
processes of indexing and the correct use of the <plain-lan-
guage-summary> tag, which could help improve uptake 
and correct tagging.13 The findings show an opportunity for 
everyone, including medical writers, to increase the impact 
of their content and reach a broader audience by ensur-
ing article PLS are tagged appropriately on PubMed. A ver-
sion of the conference poster presentation is available on 
YouTube.

Open Access Benchmarking. Open access publications 
are more likely to be discovered and accessed by a broad 
audience.14 Since Open Pharma’s launch and the publica-
tion of our position statement, the open access landscape 

has changed. Several major public research funders have 
implemented mandates requiring that their grant recip-
ients publish their findings with immediate open access 
(eg, UK Research and Innovation, 2021; National Institutes 
of Health, 2023). In the private sector, pharma companies 
Takeda (formerly Shire; press release in 2018), Ipsen (press 
release in 2019), and Galápagos (press release in 2020), all 
part of Open Pharma, have also implemented open access 
mandates. However, a subset of high-impact journals do 
not offer open access or do not offer the least restrictive 
open access license, CC BY, to authors of pharma-funded 
research.
 To investigate this possible open access bias, we needed 
to benchmark and track open access publication patterns 
in different research settings in an objective and auto-
mated way. Since 2018, we’ve analyzed and reported on 
open access rates of pharma-funded research using both 
manual and automated methods.13,15-17 This year, we collab-
orated with the Lens platform to develop a free-to-use, pub-
licly available open access dashboard that benchmarks and 
compares open access rates, types, and licenses between 
publications with authors affiliated to universities and 
those with authors from pharma companies. We presented 
a snapshot of the initial data as a poster at the 20th Annual 
(US) Meeting of the International Society for Medical 
Publication Professionals (ISMPP) (2023).18 
 Our research suggests that articles with university-affili-
ated authors are published with the most permissive license 
(CC BY) more often than articles with pharma company–
affiliated authors. However, our analysis was not designed 
to determine whether this difference is driven by journal or 
author policy. The Open Pharma dashboard will now help 
us to assess how changing perceptions of open access trans-
late into changes in practice.

Data Sharing Survey. The potential benefits of coordinated 
data sharing are undisputed (eg, improved research trans-
parency and efficiency of research), but so is the impor-
tance of protecting patient privacy. In some instances, 
intellectual property and data ownership may also be rel-
evant considerations.19 Expanding access to clinical study 
results and source data has important implications for 
research sponsors, authors, publishers, and patients, and 
most biomedical research journals now have data sharing 
requirements as a prerequisite of publication. 
 Open Pharma designed a survey to assess the ease with 
which those involved in submitting pharma research for 
publication are able to implement current journal data 
sharing policies and to understand if there are barriers to 
implementation (eg, challenges in relation to certain study 
or data types) and related implications. To make sure our 

http://www.amwajournal.org
https://www.openpharma.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PLS-TRS-PLSP-crib-sheet_Open-Pharma_17Aug21.pdf
https://www.openpharma.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Open-Pharma-ORCID-toolkit-2022.pdf
https://www.openpharma.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Open-Pharma-ORCID-toolkit-2022.pdf
https://www.openpharma.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Open-Pharma-Educational-Materials-Open-Access.pdf
https://www.openpharma.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Open-Pharma-Educational-Materials-Open-Access.pdf
https://www.openpharma.blog/resources/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGKOFi4z_ws
https://www.ukri.org/what-we-do/supporting-healthy-research-and-innovation-culture/open-research/open-access-policies-review/#:~:text=UK%20Research%20and%20Innovation%20(UKRI,published%20from%201%20January%202024.
https://oir.nih.gov/sourcebook/intramural-program-oversight/intramural-data-sharing/2023-nih-data-management-sharing-policy#:~:text=The%20NIH%20has%20issued%20a,products%20that%20improve%20human%20health.
https://oir.nih.gov/sourcebook/intramural-program-oversight/intramural-data-sharing/2023-nih-data-management-sharing-policy#:~:text=The%20NIH%20has%20issued%20a,products%20that%20improve%20human%20health.
https://www.takeda.com/newsroom/shire-news-releases/2018/xajhds/
https://web.archive.org/web/20230201191040/https:/www.ipsen.com/ipsen-commits-to-making-all-its-published-scientific-research-freely-accessible-to-everyone/
https://web.archive.org/web/20230201191040/https:/www.ipsen.com/ipsen-commits-to-making-all-its-published-scientific-research-freely-accessible-to-everyone/
https://www.glpg.com/our-story/590/galapagos-commits-to-open-access-policy#:~:text=Galapagos%20has%20committed%20to%20an,of%20its%20commitment%20to%20transparency.
https://www.lens.org/lens/report/view/**Open-Pharma-open-access-analysis-dashboard**/14572/page/14573


AMWAJournal.org     11Open Pharma: Driving Positive Change in the Communication of Pharma-Sponsored Research

survey was intuitive to complete and that we were asking 
the right questions, it was also reviewed by the ISMPP 
Global Transparency and Trends Committee. 
 Our results will help indicate whether there is a need to 
work with journals and publishers to optimize current data 
sharing policies for the benefit of all and, if so, where efforts 
should be focused.
 
OPEN PHARMA: A KNOWLEDGE-SHARING “CLUB”
Open Pharma Events
Many conversations about the communication of pharma 
research take place in the absence of the voices of import-
ant stakeholders. This makes it difficult to understand their 
challenges and needs and to come up with appropriate 
solutions. To help bridge this communication gap, Open 
Pharma seeks to develop events that stimulate debate 
between stakeholders who do not often have the opportu-
nity to meet and to bring fresh voices into the conversation.
 As an example, one of our highlights in 2022 was the 
Open Pharma Satellite Symposium held at the Association 
of Learned and Professional Society Publishers Annual 
Conference and Awards 2022. In the session “Who Can We 
Trust? Open Science and Pharma Research,” presenters and 
audience members representing the pharma, publishing, 
and medical communication industries, as well as patient 
advocates, discussed the role of open science in building 
trust in pharma research, with a focus on open access pub-
lishing and accessible summaries.20 A video of the sympo-
sium is available on YouTube, and a meeting report was 
published in a special issue of Medical Writing on the topic 
of “Open Science and Open Pharma.”21

 More recently, in February 2023, Open Pharma ran 2 vir-
tual talk shows facilitated by Richard Smith (Open Pharma 
Chair, former Editor of the BMJ, and former Chief Executive 
of the BMJ Publishing Group) that brought together patient 
advocates, doctors, policy advisors, charitable funders, open 
access advocates, and publishers. Guests included Richard 
Horton (Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet) and Christine Laine 
(Editor-in-Chief, Annals of Internal Medicine). The discus-
sions, which are available on YouTube, were energetic and 
thought-provoking.22 Bringing together such a wide range of 
views made it a unique event that will continue to spark fur-
ther debate and collaboration.

Presence at Congresses and Other Meetings
Open Pharma is a regular presence at international meet-
ings and events involving pharma industry professionals, 
publishers, and medical writers. In 2022 and 2023, we’ve 
held roundtables, workshops, and session presentations 
on open access and PLS at the European and annual (US) 
meetings of ISMPP, the Council of Science Editors meeting, 

and the Berlin and Riga meetings of the European Medical 
Writers Association. 

Open Pharma Blog 
Open Pharma delivers open science news and commentary 
via our blog and e-newsletter. In addition to a weekly digest 
of short news stories, the blog features opinion and com-
mentary pieces from expert guests (Table 1). 
 Our blog is a platform for discussing key issues and 
trends in open science for pharma research and to sign-
post everyone to events of interest and useful tools and 
resources.

OPEN PHARMA: A FORUM FOR MEMBER VOICES
Topic Meetings, Roundtables, and Working Groups 
Open Pharma has a program of discussion meetings that pro-
vide opportunities for Members and Supporters to explore 
specific topics internally and with external guests. Members 
and Supporters also take part in working groups, which 
develop projects in several areas of open science. All these 
activities help the group identify unmet needs and potential 
solutions in the communication of pharma research.
 For example, the virtual roundtable meeting Pharma 
and Publishers Forum on June 24, 2022, cochaired by 
Caroline Sutton (Chief Executive Officer of STM Publishing) 

Table 1. Highlighted Guest Blog Posts From the Open Pharma Blog

Guest Blogs in 2022
How Pharma Will Help Move the Needle on Open Research
Mark Hahnel (Founder and CEO of Figshare)

Perceptions and Insights on Clinical Trial Participation: Results 
From the 2021 CISCRP Study
Jessica Cronin (Center for Information and Study on Clinical Re-
search Participation)

Open Science: Reflecting Upon Real-World Impact (podcasts)
Martin Delahunty (Founder and Managing Director of Inspiring 
STEM Consulting)

Guest Blogs in 2023
Improving Equity Through Open Access Education
Catherine Skobe (Senior Director, Pfizer Publications Innovative 
Solutions Lead), Adam Watson (Director, Pfizer Medical Excellence 
Lead in Inflammation & Immunology Medical Affairs), and J.R. 
Meloro (Global Head of Transparency, Pfizer Worldwide Medical 
and Safety)

The Changing Open Research Landscape: A Publisher’s Perspective
Priti Nagda (Publications Development Manager at Taylor & Francis) 
and Simon Horton (Policy and External Affairs Manager at Taylor & 
Francis)

Improve Research Discoverability to Support Health Literacy
Catherine Skobe (Senior Director, Pfizer Publications Innovative 
Solutions Lead) and Sally Dews (Senior Medical Affairs Manager at 
Pfizer Patient Partnerships)

CEO, Chief Executive Officer; CISCRP, The Center for Information and Study on 
Clinical Research Participation; STEM, science, technology, engineering, and 
mathematics.

http://www.amwajournal.org
https://www.alpsp.org/
https://www.alpsp.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5F3vy6Kq6c&t=2s
https://journal.emwa.org/open-science-and-open-pharma/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/#sign-up-to-our-newsletter
https://www.stm-assoc.org/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/opinion/how-pharma-will-help-move-the-needle-on-open-research/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/news/perceptions-and-insights-on-clinical-trial-participation-results-from-the-2021-ciscrp-study/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/news/perceptions-and-insights-on-clinical-trial-participation-results-from-the-2021-ciscrp-study/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/opinion/open-science-reflecting-upon-real-world-impact-podcasts/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/accessibility/open-access/improving-equity-through-open-access-education/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/accessibility/open-access/the-changing-open-research-landscape-a-publishers-perspective/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/guest-posts/improve-research-discoverability-to-support-health-literacy/


AMWAJournal.org     12Open Pharma: Driving Positive Change in the Communication of Pharma-Sponsored Research

and Richard Smith, brought together participants from 
the publishing and pharma sectors to discuss 4 core topic 
areas in open science – PLS, open access, discoverability, 
and data sharing. The participants identified several unmet 
needs and potential solutions in these areas (Table 2), 
which the Open Pharma working groups and other organi-
zations can help to address. 

ON THE HORIZON FOR OPEN PHARMA 
As the open access movement taking place across the pub-
lishing industry reaches new heights, Open Pharma will 
continue to campaign for equitable open access opportuni-
ties for all researchers. Beyond open access, Open Pharma 
will continue to address other aspects of open science (and 
open research) by advocating for behaviors that promote 
greater transparency throughout the research life cycle. 
 A key topic of interest is how to make research more 
accessible and discoverable, with nonexpert public and 
patient audiences being increasingly recognized as valid 

audiences for pharma research. The growth in plain language 
documents within and beyond research publications will also 
require more precise use of the terminology used to refer to 
these documents.20,23 Open Pharma will continue to cham-
pion best practice and cross-stakeholder collaboration in this 
area, working to expand the use and usefulness of PLS. 
 The use of natural language processing tools, including 
artificial intelligence (AI), in medical publications is a rapidly 
changing area, with many applications emerging for publica-
tion development, quality assessment, and regulation. Open 
Pharma will help keep our stakeholders abreast of this field 
and support them in using AI tools to improve research com-
munication while maintaining publication integrity.

SUMMARY THOUGHTS 
Medical writers can help to set standards of quality, trans-
parency, and accountability in medical publications. 
Through their work with researchers, authors, pharma pub-
lication teams, and publishers, medical writers can under-

Table 2. Unmet Needs and Potential Solutions Identified at the Open Pharma Roundtable Pharma and Publishers Forum in June 2022

Open Science 
Topic

Identified Need Possible Solutions

PLS • Establish methods for evaluating how much easier 
it is for nonexpert audiences to find and understand 
publications when these are accompanied by PLS

• Develop quality standards for PLS
• Explore ways of reducing the extra work that PLS  

represent to publishers

• Continue to perform research and thought leadership on PLS value 
and readership 

• Convey the value of PLS to stakeholders by sharing these efforts at 
conferences and in the literature

• Educate using Open Pharma’s best practice recommendations article

Open Access • Improve author appreciation of the value of open 
access publishing; reduce the traditional author focus 
on journal impact factor or citation score

• Simplify, or educate authors on, open access  
licensing agreements

• Explore issues of open access publication bias  
associated with article processing charges and  
possible solutions

• Provide evidence of the value of open access and existing bias 
through data-based research projects

• Provide training on the different types of publication license and 
what each means in terms of reuse, distribution, and adaptation

• Continue to promote mandatory open access publishing for indus-
try-sponsored research

• Campaign for fee-waiving schemes for small pharma companies or 
companies from lower-income countries that may not have the bud-
gets to pay high article processing charges 

• Work with publishers on ways to update their systems to incorpo-
rate funder and pharma workflows for bulk publishing to reduce the 
administration burden and ensure use of intended licenses

Discoverability • Explore search engine optimization for research out-
puts so that scientific data reach a wider range of 
audiences

• Explore the use of article-level metrics for assessing 
publication impact

• Ensure that keywords are carefully chosen and provided during sub-
mission to optimize discoverability of articles through search engines

• Promote use of text-based PLS that are fully incorporated into the 
main manuscript alongside the abstract so they are hosted in front of 
any paywall and indexed on PubMed

• Discourage hosting of PLS in supplementary material or on third-
party content sites that are less likely to be accessed and read unless 
explicitly distributed to readers through other means

Data Sharing • Educate authors on optimal data sharing practices
• Harmonize pharma and publisher perspectives on 

preferred data storage platforms
• Explore the benefit of developing a universal data 

sharing guideline, including guidance around  
implications of

– different data protection regulations among  
countries

– disparities between pharma and publisher  
policies on data sharing

• Campaign for alignment to FAIR data management guidelines
• Develop training toolkits for authors on data sharing early in the 

research process
• Survey the industry to understand barriers to implementing current 

journal data sharing policies
• Create and share universal data sharing guidelines to help to build 

researcher and institutional confidence in complying with data shar-
ing best practices

FAIR, Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets; PLS, plain language summaries.

http://www.amwajournal.org
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/guest-posts/the-changing-open-research-landscape-a-publishers-perspective/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/news/pharma-and-publishers-forum-an-open-pharma-roundtable-discussion-on-plain-language-summaries/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/news/pharma-and-publishers-forum-an-open-pharma-roundtable-discussion-on-open-access/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/discoverability/pharma-and-publishers-forum-an-open-pharma-roundtable-discussion-on-discoverability/
https://www.openpharma.blog/blog/news/pharma-and-publishers-forum-an-open-pharma-roundtable-discussion-on-data-sharing/


AMWAJournal.org     13Open Pharma: Driving Positive Change in the Communication of Pharma-Sponsored Research

stand the challenges of closed publications systems and 
witness the benefits of more open, collaborative, and audi-
ence-centric approaches. 
 We invite the readers of this article to engage with Open 
Pharma by endorsing our open access position statement, 
encouraging your clients to use our resources and tools, and 
staying abreast of developments in the field by signing up to 
receive our newsletter. Please contact us directly if you find 
any resources or activities that may be relevant to the Open 
Pharma audience or to discuss a collaboration. 
 We believe that the appropriate application of open 
research principles can improve the quality and transpar-
ency of pharma research communication and, ultimately, 
improve patient care and increase health equity globally. 
Everyone involved in the publication process can, and 
should, play a part.

Author declaration and disclosures: The author is an employee 
of Oxford PharmaGenesis. She has no commercial associations 
that may pose a conflict of interest in relation to this article.

Author contact: jo.gordon@pharmagenesis.com

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