A note from OBI's director: the value of community science

This has been one of OBI's core values from day one, from members of our research team not all having the typical academic degrees to harnessing the power of data from publicly reported whale sightings to track three populations of killer whales throughout the Salish Sea.

Not only does an emphasis on community science help break down barriers around scientific literacy, it means that anyone, regardless of their background, can make meaningful contributions to ongoing research and conservation efforts.

Today, in honor of Giving Tuesday, we're asking for a different kind of support in honor of community science, by attempting to crowdsource the open access publication fees for 2-3 of our upcoming peer-reviewed papers. As an added bonus, thanks to a generous donor, all your contributions up to our fundraising goal of $4k will be doubled!

Many scientific publications are behind a paywall, but through the support of our community, we'll be able to ensure our research is freely available to all. People may not realize that to make this happen, the cost to the authors is usually in the $2000-$4000 range per paper, or even more.

Next year we'll be publishing our landmark paper on Southern Resident killer whale activity budgets, a project that has been 10 years in the making. It feels right to make sure this study, funded by community support from start to finish, is available to everyone. You all put the community in community science. 



We are beyond grateful for all of your support, both moral and financial. If you are able, we thank you for your consideration of giving to us again today!

Monika Wieland Shields

Director, Orca Behavior Institute

‍

You can donate to Orca Behavior Institute's open-access publication fund here:

https://givebutter.com/obi2025

‍