Open Access Scholarly Publications

An Overview

Russell Palmerrussell.palmer@lyrasis.org

LYRASIS ©2013

Learning Objectives

• Know what open access scholarly publishing is• Identify the major players in open access arena

– traditional publishers, universities and colleges, online only journals, government agencies and more

• Make use of open access materials• Understand peer review, quality control and

other environmental factors effecting the acceptance of open access material

http://www.delicious.com/eduserv/open_access

Why Open Access?• $$$• Control—access• Copyright—tightly managed by

publishers• WWW/New media• Speed of sharing

New publishing models emerged.

Why?

From the Association of Research Libraries (www.createchange.org)

• From 1987 to 1999, the U.S. consumer price index increased by a cumulative total of 52%. The unit cost of academic library journal subscriptions increased 206%.

• During this period, academic and scientific publishers had profit margins of up to 40% per year – far more than the 5% annual average for the publishing industry as a whole.

• To compensate for increasing journal prices, the average U.S. research library purchased 26% less books in 1999 than it did in 1986.

Why?

• By 2015, if current trends continue, the average research library will have to reduce its number of annual journal subscriptions by as much as 45% compared to 1986 levels. For most libraries, this will mean hundreds fewer titles on the shelves or accessible via the Internet.

• Academic journal publishers claim that increased journal prices reflect a higher level of quality in their products and services. In fact, though, empirical studies show that cheaper journals from non-profit publishers are dramatically more cost effective.

Open Access: A Brief History

• 1960’s— ERIC, Medline, ARPANET• 1970’s— AGRICOLA, Project Gutenberg, e-mail, SPIRES (Stanford)• 1980’s— USENET, BITNET (YALE/CUNY),

New Horizons in Adult Education (Syracuse) and other free online journals appear

• 1990’s– LOTS of online publishing efforts begin

History: Major Open Access

Initiatives• Books— National Academies Press• 1997– SPARC (ARL)—librarians get involved• 1999– Open Archives Initiative (OAI)• 2001— Public Library of Science (PLoS) • 2002— Budapest Open Access Initiative • 2003– Berlin Declaration on Open Access to

Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities• 2003– Bethesda Statement on Open Access

Publishing

Open Access Defined

• Digital/Online• Free of charge• Free of most copyright/licensing

restrictions• Access to literature and articles

traditionally published in scholarly journals• Open access refers only to free and

unrestricted availability without any further implications

Open Access—Peer Review

• Generally considered as rigorous as that for other publications

• More open peer review utilized (as opposed to blind peer review)

• Some doubts as new publications come online

• If not well received, open post publication quickly corrects

--Falagas

Open Access-Acceptance

Measures of acceptance– Amount published– Usage (“hits”) – Citation rate– Participation in peer review process

Case Study-University of Maryland

Open access initiative presented in faculty senate in 2009, calling for

– University president to advocate for open access journals on a national level

– Urge libraries to educate faculty on cost of journals

– Encourage faculty to publish their research in open-access journals and deposit findings in open-access databases whenever possible

– 37-24 decision against, due to perceived impositions on academic freedom

Open Access-Negatives

• “Gatekeeping” roles aren’t well funded– peer review, editing, indexing, etc.

• Funding issues may, in time, require payment for publication

• Still gaining acceptance• More study is needed

– citation, value, peer review process

Categories of Open Access

• Gold OA—hosted by a publisher with no barriers to access – Example: PLoS Biology

http://www.plosbiology.org/home.action

• Green OA—materials deposited for archiving/access that may have once been in a traditional publication– Example: PubMed Central

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/

Categories

• Hybrid Open Access Journal—some articles are free, because a publication fee was paid (usually by the author) to the publisher – Example: Publishers offering a hybrid option—American

Chemical Society, Wiley, Cambridge, Sage

• Delayed Open Access Journal—traditional journals that provide free or open access after an embargo period– Example: Journal of Experimental Biology

http://jeb.biologists.org/

Another Categorization

“Nine Flavours of Open Access”

Willinsky, 2003

Selected Open Access Resources

• For reference and research• For finding alternative resources• Titles in the Library/Information

Science realm• Publishing in open access journals

Open Source Class Materials

• Free Open Education Resources Wiki Menu– http://free-resources.wikispaces.com/

• OER Commons– http://www.oercommons.org/

– K-12 through college

• California State University's Affordable Learning Solutions Campaign – http://als.csuprojects.org/

– Low-cost resources as well

– Links to library resources

Thank You for Attending!

Questions/CommentsQuestions/Comments• 1.800.999.8558• Email: russell.palmer@lyrasis.org

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