Thursday, September 10, 2009

Authors and Open Access Publishing

Alma Swan and Sheridan Brown. Authors and Open Access Publishing. Learned Publishing(2004) 17, p. 219-224


http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/11003/1/Authors_and_open_access_publishing.pdf


Abstract :

There are two(2) ways in which authors can provide open access to their work : 1) by publishing in open access journal and 2) by depositing their traditional journal articles in eprint archives (self-archiving). This article is a survey carried out to learn more about authors and open access publishing. It is a study conducted to measure the awareness of authors on open access publishing, their experiences and opinions. A comparative survey between OA and NOA authors constitute the findings of the study. Author's awareness of OA publishing, reasons for publishing and not publishing in OA journals, concerns about publishing, and other related views were discussed by the article.

Three(3) things I learned :

1. Awareness of authors on Open Access Publishing is growing.
2. Open Access Authors major reason of publishing is the principle of free access. Other reasons include the perception of a faster publication as compared to traditional journals, large readership and frequent citations of work. NOA authors on the other hand are unfamiliar with any suitable open access journals in their field.
3. Self-archiving is another option to achieve open access to results. Arhives however are not growing and filling as they might. Reasons cited are the author's inertia that includes journal impact factor scores and publication fees, anxiety about the technical aspects of depositing the article in an eprint archive, quality issues, intellectual property rights and copyright infringement.

Reflections :

The use of open access technology in publishing received opposing views from authors using it and from traditional publishing authors. Both have valid views on the concept, but if we look beyond these views, we could somehow see the real picture of the real issues sorrounding the non-adoption of open access publishing by other authors. The real barrier would be author's resistance to the technology seen as a cultural problem that will need to be overcome by education and persuasion. The adoption of open access publishing by authors would be beneficial to researchers and information users. Much more to developing countries considered as primary importers of information. Librarians could also benefit more from open access sources. It is a value added service to their library users. It is about time to embrace the technology of open access publishing considering its vital role to research communities, research funders, scholarly publishers and later to the public.

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