ETDs and Open Access:the Digital Landscape of Open Access

Publishing in the Graduate School Arena 

Gail McMillanDirector, Digital Research and Scholarship Services

University Libraries, Virginia Tech

Open Access Week@UVa

“Comprehensive Study of National ETD Practices.” Gail McMillan, Shannon Stark, and Martin Halbert. US ETD Association Conference, Claremont, CA, July 24, 2013.

“Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Sciences?” Marisa L. Ramirez, Gail McMillan, Joan T. Dalton, Ann Hanlon, Heather S. Smith, Chelsea Kern. Accepted for publication by College & Research Libraries, anticipated publication date: Jan. 1, 2014. Preprint: http://crl.acrl.org/content/early/2013/09/20/crl13-524.abstract?sid=6bdd5bb4-a0da-48ef-829f-10923ded4183

“Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities? Findings from a 2011 Survey of Academic Publishers.” Marisa L. Ramirez, Joan T. Dalton, Gail McMillan, Max Read, and Nancy H. Seamans. College & Research Libraries, July 2013, 368-380. http://crl.acrl.org/content/74/4

Earlier (2000-2003) publications about publishers attitudes towards ETDs: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/copyright/cprtetd.html

2013 Comprehensive Study of ETD Practices

• 161 institutions 73% US 27% International

• 93% have ETD programs• 69% mandatory ETD submission

• Will be a repeated every two years

Are surveyed institution’s ETDs publically available?

All are OA

Some are OA

None are OA

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

I'nat'l US

Do surveyed institutions temporarily limit ETDs to university-only access?

No

Yes

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

I'nat'l US

Why do surveyed institutions limit ETDs to university-only access?

Authors

Publishing

Patent

Facu

lty

Copyrigh

t

Creatve

Works

Uncomforta

bleOther

Sensiti

ve/co

nfidential

Mandate

/Polic

y0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

US I'nat'l

Do surveyed institutions embargo ETDs?“withholding an ETD from all access”

None embargoed

Some embargoed

All embargoed

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

I'nat'l US

How long do surveyed institutions embargo ETDs?

< 1 year

> 1 year

Permanently

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

I'nat'l US

Why do surveyed institutions embargo ETDs?

Copyrigh

t

Creative

works

Facu

lty co

ncerns

Sensiti

ve/co

nfidentiali

ty

Patent c

oncerns

Publishing i

ssues

Authors' w

ishes

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

US I'nat'l

2011-2012 Publishers’ SurveysThe Primary Research Question

Which of the following statements best reflects the editorial policy or practice governing your enterprise?

Manuscripts that are revisions derived from openly accessible electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) are…Always welcome for submission.

Considered on a case-by-case basis.

Considered ONLY IF the contents and conclusions in the manuscript are substantially different from the ETD.

Considered ONLY IF the ETD has access limited to the campus or institution where it was completed.

Not considered under any circumstances. Other (please elaborate)

2011 Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities ETD Survey

• 75 (12% of 615) social sciences and arts and humanities journal editors 8% history

• 53 (40% of 131) AAUP press directors 80.5% history

• 17% response rate (128/764)

SoSci/Humanuties publishers’ responses “Manuscripts which are revisions derived from openly accessible ETDs are...”

sible ETDs are… SoSci/Humanities Journals and Press Responses: “Manuscripts which are revisions derived from openly accessible ETDs are...”

Other

Never

If restricted

If very different

Case-by-case

Always welcome

5%

7%

7%

27%

44%

10%

9%

3%

0%

6%

17%

66%

Uni. Presses SoSci/Hum Journals

“We do not consider the dissertation to be the equivalent of a book. It is student work; a book is professional work.”

“Dissertations have never counted as publications… A pdf of an unpublished work is still an unpublished work.”

“Prior availability through an IR is not usually the deciding factor. We are more interested in the quality of the work, how well it fits with our list, and whether it deserves wider dissemination and promotion.”

“The editorial review and publication process entails substantial refinement and revision of works that originate as part of doctoral work and thus we do not consider raw dissertations as competing with the works eventually published under our imprint.”

Comments: Social Sciences/Humanities Survey

“All essays go through extensive review and revision process, so even if the starting point is out there, the final product is not.”

“The American Psychological Association, which publishes over 40 journals across psychology, has an official policy that theses/dissertations, even if archived at a university site, are not counted as prior publication.”

“A chapter of a thesis or dissertation will virtually never be suitable as an article in my journal. Authors will often have to contextualize their discussion and explain the implications of their conclusions. And authors will often find that, after completing a dissertation, they are able to refine the argumentation a bit as well.”

Comments: Social Sciences/Humanities Survey

• ETDs make author anonymity difficult. “Easy to determine who the author is and thus

undermines the strength and reliability of peer review. This could, ultimately, disadvantage young scholars.”

• “I never thought about it until just now”…• “We ask authors to stop distribution of their ETD

when we agree to publish their REVISED material.”

• ETDs include already published articles.

New Concerns about ETDs

2012 Science Journal Editors’ ETDs Survey

• 27.9% response rate 53 original SurveyMonkey respondents 28 non-respondents phone interviews

• 17% response rate for 2011 SoSci/Hum survey 1 follow-up email

Science editors reported that manuscripts which are revisions derived from openly accessible ETDs are…

If access limited1%

Other7%

If different8%

Not considered13%

Case-by-case 19%

Always welcome51%

“A peer-reviewed publication that comes out of a dissertation or thesis should not only be encouraged but is crucially important for the scholar's development and advancement of scientific knowledge.”

“Our journal has essentially ignored any potential conflict arising from publication of ETDs, because the situation is really not different from the days of hard copy thesis holdings by University libraries. They … are simply more easily available now…”

“It is our job to archive and publish the best research. Thus we are quite happy to publish material which otherwise would sit languishing on an online archive.”

Science Editors’ Comments

“While we recognise theses as legitimate and citeable publications, they are considered gray literature because they do not go through blind external peer review and are not published in a recognized peer reviewed outlet. They are not considered prepublication...”

“Work which has not been published in archival peer reviewed journals is considered appropriate for submission, even if it is accessible elsewhere.”

Science Editors’ Comments

ETD Policies of Science vs. Hum/SoSci Journals

If access limited

Other

If different

Not considered

Case-by-case

Always welcome

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Publishers’ ETD Policies 2011/2012

Other

Never

If restricted

If very different

Case-by-case

Always welcome

5%

7%

7%

27%

44%

10%

9%

3%

0%

6%

17%

66%

7%

13%

1%

8%

19%

52%

Uni. Presses SoSci/Hum Journals Science Journals

2002 and 2011 SoSci/Hum Journal Policies

Other

Under no circumstances

If access limited

If substantially revised

Case-by-case

Always welcome

27%

2%

0%

6%

29%

33%

7%

10%

7%

43%

33%

9%

3%

1%

6%

17%

66%

2001 Seamans SoSci 2002 Holt Hum 2011 SoSci/Hum Journals

Additional Data

• 2000: 166 VT graduate alumni surveyed 29% had published None encountered problems with publishers

• 2010: McCutcheon Dissertation Angela M. McCutcheon, “Impact of Publishers’ Policy on ETD Distribution Options

within the United States” (PhD diss., Ohio University), 139. http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=ohiou1273584209

1.8% of graduate alumni reported publisher rejections

• 2011: ProQuest .2% of 70,000 requested access to their ETDs be

removed

Submit works based on your ETDs.• Most publishers will consider them.

89% SoSci/Humanities; 80% Sciences Harvard Press acquisitions editor: “If you can’t

find it, you can’t sign it.”

• Quality is the publishers’ main concern.• Adapt them for the new readership.• Peer review is radically different.

Based on the 2011-2012 publishers’ survey

UVa’s Statement of Purpose

The central purpose of the University of Virginia is to enrich the mind by stimulating and sustaining a spirit of free inquiry directed to understanding the nature of the universe and the role of mankind in it. Activities designed to quicken, discipline, and enlarge the intellectual and creative capacities, as well as the aesthetic and ethical awareness, of the members of the University and to record, preserve, and disseminate the results of intellectual discovery and creative endeavor serve this purpose. In fulfilling it, the University places the highest priority on achieving eminence as a center of higher learning.

http://www.virginia.edu/statementofpurpose/

Virginia Tech’s Mission Statement

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is a public land-grant university serving the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world community. The discovery and dissemination of new knowledge are central to its mission. Through its focus on teaching and learning, research and discovery, and outreach and engagement, the university creates, conveys, and applies knowledge to expand personal growth and opportunity, advance social and community development, foster economic competitiveness, and improve the quality of life.

http://www.president.vt.edu/mission_vision/mission.html

The American Historical Association strongly encourages graduate programs and university libraries to adopt a policy that allows the embargoing of completed history PhD dissertations in digital form for as many as six years . Because many universities no longer keep hard copies of dissertations deposited in their libraries, more and more institutions are requiring that all successfully defended dissertations be posted online, so that they are free and accessible to anyone who wants to read them. At the same time, however, an increasing number of university presses are reluctant to offer a publishing contract to newly minted PhDs whose dissertations have been freely available via online sources . Presumably, online readers will become familiar with an author’s particular argument, methodology, and archival sources, and will feel no need to buy the book once it is available. As a result, students who must post their dissertations online immediately after they receive their degree can find themselves at a serious disadvantage in their effort to get their first book published; it is not unusual for an early-career historian to spend five or six years revising a dissertation and preparing the manuscript for submission to a press for consideration. During that period , the scholar typically builds on the raw material presented in the dissertation, refines the argument, and improves the presentation itself. Thus, although there is so close a relationship between the dissertation and the book that presses often consider them competitors, the book is the measure of scholarly competence used by tenure committees.

In the past, most dissertations were circulated through inter-library loan in the form of a hard copy or on microfilm for a fee. Either way, gaining access to a particular dissertation took time and special effort or, for microfilm, money. Now, more and more university libraries are archiving dissertations in digital form, dispensing with the paper form altogether. As a result, an increasing number of graduate programs have begun requiring the digital filing of a dissertation. Because no physical copy is available, making the digital one accessible becomes the only option. However , online dissertations that are free and immediately accessible make possible a form of distribution that publishers consider too widespread to make revised publication in book form viable.

History has been and remains a book-based discipline, and the requirement that dissertations be published online poses a tangible threat to the interests and careers of junior scholars in particular. Many universities award tenure only to those junior faculty who have published a monograph within six years of receiving the PhD. With the online publication of dissertations, historians will find it increasingly difficult to persuade publishers to make the considerable capital investments necessary to the production of scholarly monographs.

Students who choose to embargo their dissertations should be required to deposit a hard copy of their dissertation in the university library (or two if required as a condition for inter-library loan). Alternatively, if university libraries no longer provide any way to archive physical dissertations, students should be permitted to embargo the digital copy for up to six years, with access being provided only on that campus or with the student’s explicit permission off campus.

ETDs and Open Access:the Digital Landscape of Open Access

Publishing in the Graduate School Arena 

Gail McMillanDirector, Digital Research and Scholarship Services

University Libraries, Virginia Tech

gailmac@vt.edu