Open Access Scholarly Publications An Overview Russell Palmer 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

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

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

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 – OER Commons – –K-12 through college California State University's Affordable Learning Solutions Campaign – –Low-cost resources as well –Links to library resources

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