Cheng Library Co-Sponsors Program on Open Access Publishing Faculty program explores options of open access publishing. Prof. David Gilley, Biology Dept., and Richard Kearney, Electronic Resources Librarian, at the program on open access publishing The Cheng Library, the Faculty Senate Research and Scholarship Council, and the Office of the Provost sponsored a program to initiate discussion among faculty on the promise and potential benefits of open access publishing. The program was held on April 15, 2014 from 12:30 - 1:40 p.m. in Science Hall East, Room 2063. Numerous faculty, chairpersons and deans attended. Richard Kearney, Electronic Resources Librarian at the Cheng Library, welcomed those attending and opened the discussion. Open access is a large and growing faculty-driven trend for publishing scholarly research. While definitions vary slightly for open access journals, the term usually means that the publication is freely available on the public internet. Considered in broad terms, open access publishing involves both journals and online repositories. For many academic institutions, a commitment to open access often begins with a comprehensive faculty discussion about open access principles, the adoption of a departmental or university-wide policy regarding open access, and the establishment of an institutional repository to make faculty research available even if much of this work is subsequently published in non-open access journals. Prof. David Gilley, Biology Department, spoke about his personal experience with open access publishing. For a recent project, he decided to submit his research paper to an open access journal rather than a commercial publisher. In making this decision, he tried to weigh the advantages and benefits of each type of publication. Although the initial dissemination of an article in an open access journal may be slower than one in a commercially published journal which has an established readership, open access journals have the potential to reach a broader audience over time. Prof. Gilley also appreciated the significance of article-level metrics for individual articles published in open access journals. The writer is able to determine how often an article was viewed, downloaded, cited or discussed in social media. Once an article is posted on open-access web sites, its level of importance can be influenced by the readers of the article and other writers who cite it. During the question and answer period, faculty asked about the reputation and prestige of publishing in open-access journals rather than commercial or association journals. Is this a factor for decisions made by retention and promotion committees? How will the publication fees required from most open-access journals be paid? Do institutional repositories create confusion for proper citation of published works? These important questions have no immediate answers, but as the status of open-access journals continues to increase, and as institutional repositories become more common, open access publication is becoming an increasingly vital part of research communities. This program was an initial step in exploring the issues and opportunities in open access publishing. The Cheng Library invites your comments and questions. For additional information, please contact Richard Kearney at the Cheng Library or Prof. David Gilley, Biology Department and Chair of the Faculty Senate Research and Scholarship Council. Please also consult the Cheng Library’s Guide to Open Access and Scholarly Publishing, available at: http://guides.wpunj.edu/openaccess April 24, 2014
