Open Access 2018 - Faculty

Contents

1. Case Study of Open Access (Images)

2. “What Readers Have to Pay.”

3. “What Researchers Have to Pay to Publish Open Access.”


1. Case Study of Open Access (Images)

Hover over the image to see the details.

 

2. “What Readers Have to Pay.”

Open Access articles are available as such either because authors have paid article processing fees or the publishers have made their archives freely available of their own accord. Free, universal access to scholarly journal articles is a privilege, not a norm.

Most individuals—for example independent scholars, journalists, and the public—do not have the same privilege, particularly when research articles have been published by large, leading publishers whose institutional subscription fees and fee options for individuals at the article-level are costly.

It is not easy to obtain access to scholarly journal articles without affiliation to an academic institution.

To a faculty member, access to scholarly journal articles is often free without any additional cost because their library has paid for journal subscriptions. When we are accessing research on campus or from home, we do not often think of the cost behind getting access to that research. However, many are unable to read these journals or their articles without having to pay for each article they download. Without university affiliation, individuals have to pay for each individual article they would like to read or cite in their final paper! That is simply not an option for many around the world looking to publish their own research.

The display above shows an example of the out-of-pocket cost of various resources for those who don’t have access to journals through subscriptions.

The article in the centre is "The Early Collapse of the 2017 Lincoln Sea Ice Arch in Response to Anomalous Sea Ice and Wind Forcing" by G. W. K. Moore (Vice-Principal, Research; Professor, Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, UTM) & K. McNeil (Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, UTM).

The References section of the article in the centre is outlined in red. 33 sources—a book chapter, scholarly articles, newsletters, and a thesis—are cited in this paper. You can find the cost of each individual cited work listed in the References on the surrounding display.

The display shows many open access articles. This means that the researchers/authors, publishers, funders, and libraries have contributed to making them open access.

3. “What Researchers Have to Pay to Publish Open Access.”

This display above on the right shows article processing charges to make them open access.

The launch of the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications was an important step for Canadian funding agencies in supporting the global movement of making access to scholarship free and universal. However, the current publishing landscape continues to uphold barriers for researchers in publishing their work open access. Namely, article processing charges that make publications immediately available online through open access remain costly.

Yet, the UTM Library can support Green Open Access: The Library supports you in complying with the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy and making your work freely available online without cost by helping you upload your work in U of T’s institutional repository, TSpace.

Email Scholarly Communication Librarian Yayo Umetsubo to discuss depositing your research into TSpace or for support navigating the current academic publishing landscape.

What is the cost of accessing research?

It is not easy to obtain access to scholarly journal articles without affiliation to an academic institution.

Follow @utmlibrary on Twitter and Instagram for more information on #OAWeek and open access!

Scholarly Lite is a free theme, contributed to the Drupal Community by More than Themes.