To Open or Not to Open: An Exploration of Faculty Decisions to Publish Open-Access Article

Authors : Jessica Kirschner, Hillary Miller, Preeti Kamat, Jose Alcaine, Sergio Chaparro, Nina Exner

Introduction

Faculty face numerous pressures as they decide whether to publish articles open access (OA). This pilot study investigated the extent to which School of Education faculty members’ engagement with OA was influenced by promotion and tenure (P&T) and how this influence related to other intrinsic, extrinsic, and contextual factors.

Methods

This exploratory, sequential, mixed-method study adapted Social Exchange Theory to understand faculty engagement with OA article publication. The study used a quantitative survey followed by qualitative interviews and focus groups.

Results

Participants reported that P&T had substantive influence over faculty practices regarding OA. Connected factors included beliefs about OA journal quality, colleagues’ perceptions regarding OA, and OA articles’ wider impacts.

Discussion

P&T was an important driver in article publishing decisions. However, when discussing OA in P&T, faculty also discussed a range of related issues such as OA journal quality. Furthermore, OA adopters tended to be those who have even stronger beliefs about the impact of OA than about OA’s role in P&T.

URL : To Open or Not to Open: An Exploration of Faculty Decisions to Publish Open-Access Article

DOI : https://doi.org/10.31274/jlsc.16894

Green on What Side of the Fence? Librarian Perceptions of Accepted Author Manuscripts

Authors : Jimmy Ghaphery, Sam Byrd, Hillary Miller

INTRODUCTION

There is a growing body of accepted author manuscripts (AAMs) in national, professional, and institutional repositories. This study seeks to explore librarian attitudes about AAMs and in what contexts they should be recommended.

Particular attention is paid to differences between the attitudes of librarians whose primary job responsibilities are within the field of scholarly communications as opposed to the rest of the profession.

METHODS

An Internet survey was sent to nine different professional listservs, asking for voluntary anonymous participation.

RESULTS

This study finds that AAMs are considered an acceptable source by many librarians, with scholarly communications librarians more willing to recommend AAMs in higher-stakes contexts such as health care and dissertation research.

DISCUSSION

Librarian AAM attitudes are discussed, with suggestions for future research and implications for librarians.

URL : Green on What Side of the Fence? Librarian Perceptions of Accepted Author Manuscripts

DOI : http://doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2204