Talking to our faculty about open access and authors’ rights Joyner Library Forum October 23, 2008

Open access ultimately means Free Web access to full texts of all 2.5 million articles published annually in the 24,000 peer-reviewed research journals across all scholarly and scientific disciplines. (Stevan Harnad, “Zeno’s Paralysis,” 2006)

Two trends converge at open access: The Web -- access to the scholarly research literature is now (theoretically) possible for all Rising research journal prices -- making research less accessible

Open access means: Research is free to the reader … but open access is not without $$$ costs

Open access has given rise to self-archiving: in subject repositories like arXiv (physics) and Citeseer (computer science) in institutional repositories

Where we fit in: Faculty researcher as searcher Faculty researcher as author Arthur Sale, “The Two Hats” (2006)

Ideally we are advocating for open access…… But when that isn’t working, educating is the fall-back position

Be aware….. Be aware….. that issues surrounding open access crystallize for different people at different times.

Keep in mind…….. The penetration of open access publishing varies somewhat by discipline.

Concerns commonly expressed about self-archiving: Stevan Harnad, “32 Worries” (

Permission How can I possibly self-archive? It’s illegal! Many journals now allow self- archiving (SHERPA-RoMEO) Items can be removed from repositories in the very rare instances where removal is requested

Peer review How can I possibly self-archive? What about peer-review? Open access self-archiving is the self-archiving of peer-reviewed journal articles before (preprint) and after (postprint) peer review It’s a supplement to – not a substitute for – publishing in a peer-reviewed journal

Prestige How can I possibly self-archive? It lacks the prestige of publication! The self-archived version simply provides supplementary access to a published, peer-reviewed journal article Prestige comes from having met the standards of the journal

Promotion How can I possibly self-archive? It won’t count for my performance review! Self-archiving is NOT self-publishing It’s the peer-reviewed, published journal article that counts for the performance review Self-archiving also increases impact, which does count in performance reviews

Priority How can I possibly self-archive? I may lose priority for my work! Publicly self-archiving a date-stamped preprint online is the best way to establish priority even before publishing

Plagiarism/Poaching How can I possibly self-archive? My work could get plagiarized! Plagiarism of online, open-access text is easier to detect and document The only surefire way to be completely safe from plagiarism is not to publish or make your work accessible to anyone

Privacy/Patents How can I possibly self-archive? My ideas could be stolen! Patentable ideas are essentially secrets The only surefire way to keep a secret is not to publish or make it public Secrets are not appropriate for self-archiving

Pretty-sitting Why should I self-archive? I already have all the access I need! Author self-archiving increases impact and can enhance the reputation of the institution There is still the problem of searcher/users at other, less-well- endowed institutions

Papyrophilia Why should I self-archive? It’s print on paper we need! Viewpoint is somewhat discipline-specific Don’t minimize this viewpoint when faculty express it Do remind that the peer-review and quality of journal is the issue Print limits access

Publishing’s future Won’t self-archiving will put publishers out of business? Subscription-based journal publishing and author self-archiving can co-exist peacefully Institutions’ subscription savings may offset OA costs SCOAP

Perspiration How can I possibly self-archive? It’s too complicated and time- consuming and I already have enough to do. Success of IRs come from a mandate (institutional or funding agency) or… Sustained, focused effort on -- usually the library’s -- part

What’s in our toolkit? SHERPA RoMEO ( SPARC author’s addendum ( Our Institutional Repository Our library’s web page Our Collections Dept. Other?

Thanks for participating in today’s forum!