There is a systemic problem in scholarly publishing that disadvantages academic authors, their institutions, the global research community, and the general public. The problem stems from the subscription-based model of scholarly publishing, whereby publishers place academic journal articles behind paywalls so that anyone who can’t pay can’t read them.
Open Access (OA) is a movement based on the argument that this situation is fundamentally unethical, and that the fruits of academic endeavor should be freely available to everyone. OA archiving and publishing are the two main strategies for accomplishing this goal, and they promise to benefit both the global research community and individual authors, moving published research into the open and thereby broadening its readership and generating more citations. OA is also fast becoming a requirement for recipients of research funding, as many public and private funding agencies have enacted public access policies to make the results of funded research accessible to all.
Open Access Week, Oct. 22-28, is an opportunity for the global research community to learn more about this important movement and the many ongoing efforts to make it the new norm in research and scholarship. To celebrate the occasion, FSU Libraries is hosting two screenings of Paywall: The Business of Scholarship, a documentary film that focuses on the need for open access to research and questions the rationale behind the $25.2 billion annual revenues of for-profit academic publishers. We hope you’ll join us at one of the screenings to enjoy some free popcorn and learn more about OA and how it can benefit you as a student, teacher, or researcher:
- 12:00-1:30 PM, Scholars Commons Instruction Room, Strozier Library
- 4:00-5:30 PM, Dirac Conference Room, Dirac Library
In addition, we’d also like to take this opportunity to highlight some important ways that the Libraries support the FSU community in taking action to advance openness in research and education:
- Our Open Access Publishing Fund provides FSU authors with funding to assist with publication charges for open access journals and books
- Our Open Access Publisher Memberships support publishers with innovative and sustainable business models and provide FSU authors with discounts on publication charges
- Our efforts to implement FSU’s Faculty Senate Open Access Policy, including personalized support for sharing scholarly work on DigiNole, FSU’s Research Repository
- Our Alternative Textbook Grants support FSU instructors in replacing expensive commercial textbooks with open educational resources (OER) that save students money and ensure that they have the materials they need to succeed.
So, what can you do to advance the cause of OA through your own research and teaching?
- Check out these short video interviews with FSU faculty: Xan Nowakowski, Mark Riley
- Read your publication contracts and understand your rights as an author
- Deposit your papers in DigiNole, FSU’s research repository
- Explore OA publication venues like the Public Library of Science
- Use the OA Publishing Fund to pay article processing charges for eligible OA journals
- Apply for an Alternative Textbook Grant to replace a commercial textbook with an open alternative
- Contact us to schedule a presentation on OA publishing for your next departmental meeting, graduate seminar, or campus event
For more information, see our research guides on Open Access Publishing and the Open Textbook Movement , or contact Devin Soper, Scholarly Communications Librarian at FSU Libraries’ Office of Digital Research & Scholarship. And don’t forget to follow the conversation on Twitter! #OAweekFSU
Leave a Reply