Open Access Scholarly Publishing & An Institutional Repository for CUNY Jill Cirasella Maura A. Smale

What Are We Talking About? Today’s focus: scholarly journal articles Not today’s focus: monographs theses & dissertations research data etc.

What Is the Problem? university $ (taxpayer $, tuition $, etc.) + grant $  pay faculty to do research & record results in articles  faculty give articles & copyright to publishers for free (and other researchers peer review for free)  university libraries pay dearly for access to articles  publishers get articles, copyrights, and labor for free & publishers rake in all the $ (and it is BIG $)

What Is the Solution? Open access to scholarly journal articles! Open access (OA) articles are: 1. freely accessible online in a repository committed to long-term archiving 2. free for all to read, download, print, copy, share, etc. (attribution always required, of course)

How to Achieve Open Access? “Gold” OA: publish in open access journals “Green” OA: publish in journals that allow authors to archive articles in subject repositories (PubMed Central, arXiv, SSRN, RePEc, etc.) or institutional repositories Today’s focus: Creating a CUNY institutional repository so faculty can make their articles open access in a permanent venue, regardless of field

Who Benefits from Open Access? Readers: More content is available to everyone, regardless of institutional affiliation or ability to pay

Who Benefits from Open Access? Authors: Increased availability —> More readers —> More scholarly citations, impact in the field Easy to link to —> More mentions/links in news, blogs, etc. —> Broader awareness in the world Greater control over own work —> No need to relinquish copyright to publishers —> Publishers don't dictate copying, sharing, etc.

Who Benefits from Open Access? Institutions: Institutions no longer pay twice for research: researchers’ salaries + journal subscriptions In the case of public institutions, the tax-paying public no longer pays three times for research: researchers’ salaries + research grants + journal subscriptions Institutional repositories can “serve as tangible indicators of a university’s quality” and “demonstrate the scientific, societal, and economic relevance of its research activities, thus increasing the institution’s visibility, status, and public value” — Raym Crow

Who Benefits from Open Access? Fields of Study: Greater access to information —> More informed research —> Better research Articles placed in repositories before they appear in journals —> Ends reliance on journal publication cycles —> Allows other researchers to respond more quickly —> Speeds innovation

Who Benefits from Open Access? The Public: Greater access to information —> Better informed doctors, teachers, journalists, etc. —> Better informed individuals, voters, etc. —> Healthier, better educated people living in a cleaner, safer, more evidence-based world “Closed access means people die.” — Peter Murray Rust

Who Thinks OA Is Important? A growing number of universities have OA mandates: Harvard, MIT, U of Kansas, Princeton, Duke, Emory, Oberlin, Bucknell, etc. Some funding agencies have OA mandates: National Institutes of Health, Gates Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Wellcome Trust, etc.

What Can CUNY Do? 1. TODAY: Pass this resolution to establish a CUNY-wide institutional repository and associated policies 2. Build a CUNY-wide institutional repository 3. Inform CUNY faculty, administrators, etc. about journal pricing crisis and the solution of open access publishing in all its forms (gold + green) 4. Create & pass open access policy à la Harvard, etc.

What Might a CUNY IR Look Like? Perhaps expand CUNY Libraries “sandbox” repository…

What Might a CUNY IR Look Like? Perhaps use or adapt another platform…

What Might a CUNY IR Look Like? Quite possibly integrate with CUNY Academic Commons: enhance profiles with publications lists & links create news feeds of new publications offer space to discuss articles in the IR make the Commons more like Academia.edu

Thank you! Questions? Jill Cirasella Maura A. Smale