Presentation at the EDEN Research Workshop, Barcelona, 26th October 2018

1. Mark Brown,
Eamon Costello & Mairead Nic Giollamhichil
Selecting the Best Open Access Journal Articles:
To What Extent Does this Go Beyond Being a Subjective Exercise?
Barcelona
26th October, 2018

2. What Are You Reading And Why?
Lessons Emerging from the Open Access Literature

3. • What do you read?
• Where do you find your material?
• How often or frequently do you read?
Professionally speaking...

8. • What selection criteria do you adopt to help identify a really
good (open access) journal article?
• What selection methodology do you use to help identify the top
10 open access journal articles for the year?
• Who do you involve in the selection process to help enhance
the validity of the list of top 10 (open access) journal articles?
Key questions...

9. “No one who cannot rejoice in the
discovery of his [her] mistakes
deserves to be called a scholar.”
(Donald Foster, 2002; cited in Wikipedia)

10. • Published in open access journals
• Restricted to higher education (inclusive of teacher education)
• Strong preference to journal articles with international focus or
relevance
• Minor preference to journal articles published by professional
associations
• Strong preference to journal articles offering major literature
reviews
• Strong preference to journal articles addressing major gaps in
the literature
Selection criteria...

11. • Minor preference to journal articles exploring new and emerging
topics
• Strong preference to journal articles which challenge
conventional thinking
• Minor preference to journal articles relevant to current NIDL’s
projects
• Overall selection of top 10 journal articles reflects a mix of
gender, cultural and geographical diversity
Selection criteria...

19. • 22 authors
• Geographically spread
• Women authors less than 40%
• Notable gaps in research topics
• IRRODL still the leading publication
• Majority through professional bodies
Fact File...

21. • The increasing number of systematic literature
reviews
• The question of whether the “best” articles remain
in closed journals
• The blurring of boundaries between open and
closed publications
Three takeaways...

22. One additional point…

23. Next steps...

24. Next steps...
• 2018 top 10
• Journals on the rise
• NIDL strategic partnership

25. To what extent is this a subjective exercise?

26. 2019 Conference
Dublin

27. Go raibh maith
agaibh!
Thank you