Embracing Open Access Publishing

Alasdair RaeUniversity of Sheffield

@undertheraedar

About me

• Editor of RSRS

• Senior Lecturer in Urban Studies and Planning

• Advocate of ‘openness’ in general

• Unhealthy interest in Open Access…

For the next 20 minutes or so

• “Open access publishing is a fad”

• “Open access publications are a load of rubbish, aren’t they?”

• “Who is OA open to?”

• Advantages and disadvantages of OA

Fad?

United States, Brazil, UK, India, Spain all have

over 500 OA journals.

Source: DOAJ

OA journals have been with us for decades.

Source: DOAJ

There are around 10,000 OA journals in

existence.

Source: DOAJ

http://doaj.org

Rubbish?

Let’s take a serious look at OA

• Three obvious, important points

1. Not all OA publications are the same

2. You need to understand how it works

3. OA needn’t mean lower quality

http://undertheraedar.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/the-wonderful-world-of-open-access.html

Two sides of the same coin

#rejection#openaccess

Open to whom?

Let’s think about ‘open’

• What’s it all about?

1. Access to publicly-funded research

2. Societal progress – not ivory towers

3. Fairness

Advantages and

Disadvantages

Advantages of OA

• People might actually read your work

• Your work might be published sooner than in a non-OA journal

• Access for researchers in developing nations

• Impact, engagement and publicity

Disadvantages of OA

• People might actually read your work

• Depending upon licence, can have a life of its own – CC-BY etc.

• Normally a cost associated with it

• Far fewer quality options to choose from – very important for early career

To sum up

• You should definitely embrace open access (as part of your publishing strategy)

• Open access is not a fad

• Open access quality varies greatly

• Open access can help change the world

@undertheraedar