1. Open Access in the Academic Community: Benefits and issues for Librarians, publishers and authors Presented by Silvia Vong on June 18, 2009 for LIS 9104 (Publishing, Media and Librarianship)
2. The Librarian Redistributing budget needs Right to retain, archive and loan works Digital preservation Relevancy in academic community (research help) Benefits: Issues:
3. The Publisher Faster publishing times Cost-effective Cost of digitizing pre-digital articles Adopting a business model that works for all parties involved Benefits: Issues:
4. The Author / Faculty Academic freedom Copyrights Visibility Time to publish Credibility of the publication Peer review issues Tenure track for faculty Benefits: Issues:
5. Issues in Credibility: Would you publish with an open access journal? A student submitted an article to Bentham Science Publishers The article was a computer-generated document that was out of context (complete nonsense) The journal sent an e-mail to the student indicating that the article was accepted and the author fee for publishing with the journal Links to articles on the case: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17288-spoof-paper-accepted-by-peerreviewed-journal.html http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2009/06/10/nonsense-for-dollars/
Editor's Notes
Open access affects various parties in the academic community. I will be discussing the various perspectives from the librarian, publishers and authors or faculty view.
For librarians, the benefits from open access include the redistribution of budget needs. Instead of paying for journals, librarians could utilize the money for purchasing technology or databases. Open access would also allow librarians to retain, archive and loan materials without price and permission barriers.However, librarians do have concerns, such as digital preservation, it is a growing concern and at some point, librarians will need to update their skills in this arena. In addition, there is a concern that when materials become open access, students and faculty will no longer view the library (as in the place or physical presence) as important and integral in the academic community.
With publishers, open access promotes faster publishing times and it is more cost-effective. Although, it is difficult for publishers to invest money to make pre-digital articles available online. In addition, many of the publishers are facing criticism for author pays business model. It is important to note that author pays does not mean that the author themselves pay but rather grants that they receive or the institution they work for pays to have the article published. It is important to also consider that smaller presses and university presses are taking the risks and chance when they choose to publish a book or work. In addition, many of these presses lack funding.
Authors or faculty can retain their copyright and they are able to be quickly published thus, increasing their visibility for tenure. On the other hand, the credibility of publication is often in question, especially if the work is not peer-reviewed. An example of this is shown in the recent news that a hoax article by a library and information science studen in the states was accepted for publication The Open Information Science Journal (TOISCIJ), a journal that claims to enforce peer-review. The student received an email indicating that the article was reviewed and accepted along with author fees. As a result of this, the editor of the journal has stepped down. This case has the academic community questioning the credibility and peer review process of open access.In addition, the quick publishing times can mean a faster tenure track, although, some may argue that the tenure track may be hindered as online publishing may not be accepted or highly regarded when a faculty member is up for tenure or a promotion by the committee.
