Moving beyond borders

Editor's Notes

• #2: The Association for the Study of Australasia in Asia (ASAA) Fifth Conference in Hyderabad, India, 12-14 December 2011Vanishing Borders in the Age of Globalism: Austral-Asian Perspectives…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Paper Title: Moving beyond borders: open access publishing in the age of globalismJulia Gross, Faculty Librarian, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Abstract: The growth in the Internet has resulted in an explosion of digital publication. Despite this, much scholarly literature is inaccessible to global researchers and is on virtual closed access, locked away behind institutional logins. In the scholarly publishing model the key stakeholders are publishers, authors, libraries and scholars. Publishers are in control and the current model is skewed in their favour. While academic authors give away their intellectual property, academic publishers reap large profits. Libraries are caught in the middle, faced with rapidly rising subscription costs. This unique publishing model is unsustainable, resulting in what has become known as the “scholarly communication crisis”. Do these access barriers need to exist? Is there another way forward? The worldwide Open Access movement aims to shift the academic publishing paradigm from closed access to open access. This paper will explore the scholarly communication crisis and examine the essential role of institutional repositories and libraries in providing an alternative publishing model that will enable scholars to conduct research beyond virtual borders.
• #3: My presentation will cover 5 main areas:Scholarly communication crisisRole of publishers, authors, libraries and scholarsOpen Access movementInstitutional repositoriesLibrary role
• #4: I will start by presenting “the problem” which is commonly referred to as the “scholarly communication crisis”What is this scholarly communication crisis?Since the mid 1990s digital publications have increased dramatically. Despite the explosion of digital publication worldwidemuch quality scholarly literature is inaccessible to global researchers and is on virtual closed access, locked away behind institutional logins, or behind borders.Why is this so?Publishers (particularly in the areas of Science, Technology and Medicine) are in control and the current publishing model is skewed in their favour. While academic authors give away their intellectual property, academic publishers reap large profits. Libraries are caught in the middle, faced with rapidly rising subscription costs and budget pressures. This unique publishing model is unsustainable, resulting in what has become known as the “scholarly communication crisis”This presentation will outline the nature of the crisis and look into the promise of new models that would provide free and open access to research outputsWhile much of I will be saying relates to the sciences, it has implications for humanities researchers too, as I will explain.
• #5: Thekey stakeholders in scholarly communication are publishers, authors, libraries and scholars. I will present now the positions of each of the key players
• #6: In August 2011 there was an article by George Monbiot in online version of The Guardian (UK newspaper)TitledThe Lairds of Learning the article took the line, that “academic publishers make <Rupert> Murdoch look like a socialist”The article claimed that the publishers are privateers?This article certainly captured the attention of those in the Open Access movement including many librarians, as it moved the decade-long debate into the mainstream. However, let me admit, it did show just one side of the argumentSource: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/29/academic-publishers-murdoch-socialist
• #7: STM publishing is global business dominated by three main players: Elsevier, Kluwer, Thomson ReutersThe bottom line is thatResearch is publically fundedAuthors are not paidPublishers get content for free
• #8: There is of course another side to the argument:Publishers’ side of the argumentProvide support for researchMeet a needManage publication processManage peer review processEnsure quality
• #9: Authors, who are researchers and academic staff, mostly, are interested in:impact of their Research and whether it can reach a wide audienceCitations and impact factors, who is citing them and wherePeer review and quality controlCareer, academic promotion, tenureVested interest in the status quo, the current system is well entrenchedAuthor attitudes towards open access publishing done byInTech Open Access Publisher. Survey 2011 75% authors rated open access as important
• #10: Prior to the late 1990s journals used to be published in print form. When e-journals started appearing they mostly came as bundles from a publisher and libraries were required to sign a licence for access. Libraries paid a subscription fee and then in order to ensure only our students/staff could access.Since then costs are increasingJournal price increasesMeans less for monographsCosts increasing above inflation….33% in 5 yearsSource: EBSCO Five Year Journal Price Increase History (2007 - 2011)
• #11: Scholars need to be able to access the current literature in their fieldThey loose out, particularly those in poorer institutions and in the developing world. For example at ECU: an international student collaborates with ECU researcher and together they publish article, BUT cannot read the results of research on returning home
• #12: Do these access barriers need to exist? Is there another way forward?The worldwide Open Access movement aims to shift the academic publishing paradigm from closed access to open access. I will now turn to Open Access and examine the essential role of institutional repositories and libraries in providing an alternative publishing model that will enable scholars to conduct research beyond virtual borders.
• #13: Why is Open Access important and what is its history?History: Budapest Open Access Initiative 2002The BOAI in 2002 Challenged the status quo by sayingthat The “old tradition is academic scholars giving away the results of their research” should be overturned. “Faculty at universities are paid by universities and/or funding agencies to produce research; disseminating the results in peer reviewed publications is an expectation. “Journals do not buy the articles from the authors or pay royalties on sales”. everyone in the world to share knowledge freely and openly.” WikipediaTaxpayers pay for (1) research funding (2) salaries of academics to do research and to do peer review (3) libraries to purchase the serials Movement towards Open access Moral argument that: Open access to publicly funded research should be mandatoryNow, more pressing to have open accessFunders (e.g. in Australia ARC) demand this now with digital content availabilityOpen access repository of published research outputs
• #14: Under the so-called Green Road author’s can self archive on a website, or in an institutional repository, or in a discipline repositoryUnder the Gold Road the author publishes directly in an OA journalGold OA journal publishing has seen rapid growth mainly journals, but extending also to book chaptersThere are many models with some charging authors an open access publication feeReferences:http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/researchexchange/topics/gd0006/#overview
• #15: I will focus now on e-repositories, or institutional repositories repositories can be accessed for Free access to scholarsThey are Available worldwide They ensure that articles have Digital preservation for the long-term, a type of archiveChallenges the closed publishing modelFaster accessCitation benefits
• #16: Also benefits For Wider community thru our commitment to open accessPromotes and showcases researchPreserves research onlineStores and organisesresearchGoogle search optimisationInclusion in Google ScholarEnhances scholarly communicationDisseminate works beyond ECUEnhancing scholarly communication
• #17: Repositories are very flexible:Published works book chapters, conference papers the copy received is mostly peer reviewed post printjournal articles, working papersDigital formatsmedia, music, imagesDissertations at ECU all dissertations now being published this wayConference and journal publishingCan cope with creative works such as musicStreaming in the future
• #18: Since 2003 Chart showing increase in institutionsROARMAP: Registry of Open Access Repositories Mandatory Archiving Policies Source: http://roarmap.eprints.org/
• #19: There are now over 2100 open access e-repositories worldwide46 % Europe23 % America17 % Asia14% otherAbout 47 in IndiaSource: Figures on repositories by continent from OpenDOARhttp://www.opendoar.org/index.htmlSearching repositories Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) complianthttp://www.oclc.org/oaister/ OCLC
• #20: ECU’s institutional repository us known as Research Online at ECUUses Digital Commons, off the shelf product
• #21: Also has Special featuresConference management software ANDJournal peer review and publication managementfor Editors of journals
• #22: OA predominatesin the area of scientific research, published in journals, however the open access movement is rapidly turning its attention to the humanities.Open Humanities Press is an international open access publishing collective whose mission is to make leading works of contemporary critical thought freely available worldwide.Postmodern Culture is an electronic journal established in 1990Culture machine. Cultural studies and cultural theory in mid 1999
• #23: Thanks to the possibilities of Open Access we ARE seeing Vanishing Borders in the Age of Globalism
• #24: That brings to a conclusion my brief journey thru the new way forward --- open access.Are there any questions?