At CanFASD, we believe that research should be available to everyone. When research is locked behind a paywall, it can’t reach the people who need it most – families, caregivers, service providers, and communities.

Open access research is scholarly work that is free online to anyone, without subscription or cost barriers. By contributing to our Open Access Research Fund, you can help us cover publication fees and associated costs, ensuring that our research is freely available for everyone to see. Your support helps break down barriers to information, allowing caregivers, healthcare professionals, policymakers, and individuals with FASD to access the latest research findings without restrictions.

Your Support Matters

Open access publishing helps new ideas spread further and faster, leading to better outcomes for people with FASD. It accelerates scientific discovery, generates better policies and practices, and builds a more knowledgeable community.

But open access publishing is expensive. Researchers pay high fees to journals to make their work freely available – open access papers can cost anywhere between $3000 and $6000 to publish. At CanFASD, we try to cover these costs through grants or our own operations funds. But with the number of articles we publish each year, we can’t always afford to make everything open access.

Open access research is essential to ensuring research breakthroughs and evidence-based information reach those who need it most – families, frontline service providers, policy makers, and other researchers.

“As a caregiver for a loved one with FASD, I know firsthand how important it is to have access to the latest research. Understanding FASD and how to best support my loved one has been a journey, and the research from CanFASD has been a lifeline for me… Keeping research open access means that families, educators, and service providers can learn from the latest findings without financial barriers. It ensures that we’re not navigating this journey alone – we have science, understanding, and a supportive community behind us.  But open access publishing comes at a cost. Without the support of donors, important research could be locked behind paywalls, making it harder for families like mine to access the resources we need.” – Melissa D., Family Advisory Committee

Open Access Success Stories

Open access isn’t just a publishing choice – it’s a commitment to knowledge sharing. It’s how our research reaches the people who need it most and contributes to real-world change in the field of FASD.  Over the years, we have made a number of our research papers open access. Below are a selection of some open access research publications from our team. These studies are already helping professionals, families, and communities make informed decisions and deliver better support. But we need your help to publish more! Consider donating today to help us add to this archive. 

Systematic Review of FASD and the Criminal Legal System

This article reviewed all the recent research that has been done about FASD in the criminal legal system, which can help to guide future decisions about research, policy, and practice in this area. This research helped to inform some of the information found in our updated issue paper: FASD Prevalence in Special Populations.

Women’s Experiences with Vaping During Pregnancy

This study sampled over 100 women who vaped cannabis or nicotine during their pregnancy or postpartum to understand their experiences. They found women commonly vaped to manage mental health challenges, believing vaping to be less harmful than smoking. The findings of this study helped to inform a resource to help healthcare providers have conversations with women about managing the risks of vaping during pregnancy and postpartum.

Experiences of caregivers raising individuals with FASD

This study explains the “why” and “how” of our CARE Study. Recognizing that this research places a large burden on caregivers to share their story, our team structured their survey so that it could be completed in small portions. They also embedded short self-care practices throughout the survey, giving caregivers time to reflect, care for themselves in moments of potential discomfort, and possibly learn new coping strategies for later use. These self-care activities are now available as a free resource. Our hope is that in publishing this research open access, we can help guide other teams in creating research that asks the right questions and gives value back to the people who are taking the time to share their stories.