scholarly communication, open access & author rights research methods and data woods college of...

Scholarly Communication, Open Access &

Author Rights

Research Methods and Data

Woods College of Advancing Studies

Brendan Rapple

04/19/23 Scholarly Communication, Open Access, & Author Rights

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Basics of Scholarly Communication

Authors conduct research and then write books, articles etc.


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Author’s peers evaluate the work & recommend whether it should be published or not



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If the evaluation is good, then the work is published



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Delving a Little Deeper . . .

Authors rarely receive remuneration for their scholarly journal articles.

In fact, they give their work to publishers (also generally transfer copyright).

Scientists sometimes pay page charges!

Then publishers often charge exorbitant prices for the journals.

Moreover, publishers often place restrictions on use of scholars’ work.

And frequently charge high fees for later use of work.


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In Short . . . .

Commercial publishers get articles free from researchers.

And make a lot of money by selling the same articles back to the universities the researchers work for.

The very universities that paid for much of the research in the first place.

The public has often paid through tax $$ for much of the research – however, they frequently do not have ready access to the results.

Arguably, optimal dissemination of scholarship is being hindered by commercial publishers, whose very rationale is such dissemination.


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Ten Costly Journals – Annual Subscriptions!

• Brain Research $22,965

• Journal of Comparative Neurology $30860• Journal of Applied Polymer Science $28,451• Tetrahedron $22,284• Chemical Physics Letters $17,473• Journal of Chromatography A $19,951• Journal of Polymer Science. Part A, Polymer Chemistry $22,365• Journal of Cellular Physiology $12,565• Journal of Neuroscience Research $22,775• Nuclear Physics, Section B $11,570


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It’s not Surprising that BC Libraries Strongly Support Open Access

• Optimal access to resources is an essential component of BC Libraries’ mission.

• The Library is a signatory of

o Alliance for Taxpayer Access: “American taxpayers are entitled to open access on the Internet to the peer-reviewed scientific articles on research funded by the U.S. Government.”

o The Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI)

BOAI promotes “the world-wide electronic distribution of the peer-reviewed journal literature and completely free and unrestricted access to it by all scientists, scholars, teachers, students, and other curious minds.”


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Benefits of Open Access (OA)

• The primary benefit of OA is the widest diffusion possible of scholarship.

• This results in publications being more widely read and potentially cited more.

• This is beneficial for the author’s career and research itself is advanced.

• At the same time OA helps to promote BC’s academic quality.

• Greater visibility and prestige results in more qualified students and faculty as well as more research funds.


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OA a Social Good

• Open Access promises more than solving libraries' economic woes.

• But perhaps more important still is that Open Access is arguably the right thing to do.

• The results of much scholarship are accessible to only an elite minority, mainly in the first world.

• Scholarship should be available to all.

• Open Access will help end the evils of what Jean-Claude Guédon terms 'cognitive apartheid', both nationally and globally.


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Authors Frequently Sign Away Important Rights

Example of a restrictive publisher contract that an author might encounter:

The author transfers exclusively to the publisher copyright (including all rights thereunder) in the work for the duration of copyright and all extensions and renewals thereof, in all languages, throughout the world, and in any form or medium now known or hereafter developed. (MIT): http://libraries.mit.edu/about/journals/pub-contract.html


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Remember That

• The copyright holder controls the work.

• Authors who have transferred all their copyrights may not be able to– place the work on course websites, – copy it for students or colleagues, – deposit the work in a digital archive, e.g. eScholarship@bc– or reuse portions in a subsequent work.

• Transferring copyright doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

• Publishers require only your permission to publish an article, not a wholesale transfer of copyright.

• So, a “compromise” is often desirable.


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Recent Survey of BC Faculty re. Open Access & Author Rights

• 142 responses

• 40 of these provided open, free text responses

• BC faculty demonstrated overwhelming support for having their scholarship open access, i.e. freely available to anyone with internet access.


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Survey: Willingness of Faculty to provide open access to their Scholarship on BC's eScholarship@BC

140

10

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

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Yes 99.3%

No 0.7%


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Some Faculty Comments in Survey

1. I am all for it. Theological Studies and America both give copyright to the author. But other publishers and journals do not, even though they do not pay. (School of Theology and Ministry)

2. It's a very good idea. (History)

3. I think this is a great idea. (Political Science A&S)

4. Whatever we can do to promote open access would be great! I only recently found out about the addendum option and I'll definitely try to do it with my next article. (Sociology)

5. I always insist on the right to use anything I write in future work. I think what you are doing is great. ...Ed Kane (Finance)

6. I am all for it (Chemistry)

7. As a author and researcher, I publish papers without being paid by the publisher. It definitely should be free access. (Physics/CAS)

8. Open access should work to our benefit because citation records/counts are so important for promotion. Also, I regularly receive requests for copies of my articles because faculty or doc students in other countries don't have access to the journals (CSOM/ marketing dept.)

9. I support open access. (English A & S)

10. Excellent idea (GSSW)

11. let everything be open--except dangerous/destructive how-to-do-it things (LSOE/ERME)


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Our Survey: What BC Faculty Do with Contracts

118

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0

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40

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100

120

140

sign the contracttransferring copyright.90.8%

request an addendum9.2%

World Bank & Open Access

• In a recent policy shift the World Bank announced that it will increase access to information at the World Bank and to make its research as widely available as possible.

• “Knowledge is power,” the Bank’s President Robert B. Zoellick said. “Making our knowledge widely and readily available will empower others to come up with solutions to the world’s toughest problems. Our new Open Access policy is the natural evolution for a World Bank that is opening up more and more."


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Students for Free Culture

• Some of its goals are:– decentralization of creativity—getting ordinary people and communities

involved with art, science, journalism and other creative industries, especially through new technologies

– reforming copyright, patent, and trademark law in the public interest, ensuring that new creators are not stifled by old creators

– making important information available to the public


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Open Access TextbooksMany faculty and certainly students (and their parents!) are beginning to advocate for open access textbooks.

•An open textbook is an openly-licensed textbook offered online by its author(s). The open license sets open textbooks apart from traditional textbooks by allowing users to read online, download, or print the book at no additional cost (Wikipedia).

•The primary features that differentiate open textbooks from traditional commercial textbooks are cost and copyright restrictions. Open textbooks, also known as open access textbooks, are “complete digital textbooks that are accessible online at no cost, and affordable to purchase printed as a book.”

•Generally, the minimum baseline rights allow users at least the following:

– to use the textbook without compensating the author

– to copy the textbook, with appropriate credit to the author

– to distribute the textbook non-commercially

– to shift the textbook into another format (such as digital or print)


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04/19/23 eScholarship@BC 20

A Totally New Paradigm is at Hand

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