Open Access and the Early Career Researcher: Weaving Open Access into the research process
From supporting other researchers when working in the University of Manchester Library and through my own experiences of Open Access (OA) as an early career researcher (ECR), I have absolutely no doubt of the benefits that OA can provide for building researchers’ careers; as well as the integral role it is playing in the important shift in how academics contribute to society. However, OA policies and processes are far from perfect and it is important for ECRs to be part of the conversation in how we decide to share our work as well as to ensure we have the opportunity to reap the benefits that OA has to offer.
My own research explores the exchange of creative skills and knowledge through online communities and niche forms of social media. When I was writing my PhD I never gave much thought to making my scholarly output accessible to all. Navigating the whole research and publication process was complicated enough, and being slightly naïve I didn’t consider how it would affect me in the long run. I shared blogposts about my own work as I knew it was important to share ideas and wanted to connect to the communities I was exploring. But I was unclear about the issues around copyright and plagiarism, so I resisted sharing data and findings through these means. I didn’t even think about the impact of Open Access (OA) until I was between research jobs and couldn’t access the information I needed to continue conducting research; this was even more problematic as I needed to build my own publications in order to get another research job.
I was first introduced to the concept of OA through a blogpost by an academic named David Gauntlett, who influenced my work and I’ve been a supporter of OA ever since. Since Gauntlett’s blogpost was written, funding policies and the publication landscape have continued to change but the principles of OA remain the same: academic output should be openly accessible to all. From my own experiences of OA, I have gained a great deal of insight into the benefits it can provide for researchers as well as to society as a whole. In this post I will explain some of the advantages of engaging with OA, specifically to early career researchers, but I will also address some of my own concerns and problems around this topic.
Open Access is now something that all researchers in the UK have to engage with, as funding bodies have made it a mandatory requirement. I consider this to be a good thing, however I do have concerns about this process that I feel should continue to be questioned and explored. One of these concerns is the cost. Publishing via the Gold OA model means that authors have to pay an article processing charge in order for their article to be published in the journal. Many are eligible to have these costs covered by their institutions, but as someone who is not currently eligible for this assistance I worry I might get priced out of publishing my research or at least be at a significant disadvantage in comparison to those who are eligible for this assistance. This could also have wider implications as only the wealthier institutions/academics are able to make their research immediately available through Gold OA. The current tiered routes between Gold and Green OA might be considered elitist by providing the wealthy an unfair advantage. The version restrictions and embargoes placed upon Green OA are disappointing and restrictive to researchers who want to share. There are sometimes ways around this but this is not always clear for researchers at any stage of their career.
Another issue I have is that in many cases OA publishing can also be regarded as too complex and convoluted. I feel this is because instead of rethinking publishing models to embrace digital technologies we are attempting to adapt OA processes to fit an outdated system. As OA policies can also be complicated and the landscape is constantly changing it can be difficult to determine the best course of action. Even though guidance can be found within institutions and OA advocates are a supportive community, the fear of misunderstanding and/or missing a crucial part of information could impact on your career as a researcher. So keeping up to date with current policies and publishing processes is definitely a concern for me, especially as OA is just another aspect that must be taken into account within the ever expanding process of research administration.
Despite these issues the sharing of scholarly work is so important and not only because it is a requirement from HEFCE. The benefits of OA are undeniable for institutions, society and for building a research career. The application of digital technologies allows us to share knowledge online, utilise online communities and build professional profiles. By sharing academic output through these channels furthers its reach and increases readership. A number of studies have shown that academic outputs which are OA have a significant citation advantage, which is extremely beneficial to researchers looking to raise their academic profile and is crucial in furthering research impact. Not only is OA beneficial for researchers but it is beneficial for society too, research produced within universities is funded by taxpayers so arguably it should be available for everyone to access. Making scholarly work available to all helps to fuel innovation as it supports practice outside of the confines of Higher Education and makes an impact in the outside world. This for me is the most important outcome of weaving OA into the research process, as I want my work to make a real contribution to practice and enterprise, and not trapped behind a publisher paywall.
Weblinks:
Gauntlett, D. (2012) ‘Digital transformations means open access … and a whole new way of doing things’ http://www.digitaltransformations.org.uk/digital-transformations-means-open-access-and-beyond/
The Open Citation Project (2013) ‘The effect of open access and downloads (‘hits’) on citation impact: a bibliography of studies’ http://opcit.eprints.org/oacitation-biblio.html
Stone, A. (2016) ‘How to beat the billion-dollar research parasite’ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-beat-billion-dollar-research-parasite-alvin-stone
Suber, P. (2013) ‘Open access: six myths to put to rest’ http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/oct/21/open-access-myths-peter-suber-harvard
Van Noordon, R. (2013) ‘Open access: The true cost of science publishing’ http://www.nature.com/news/open-access-the-true-cost-of-science-publishing-1.12676
Weller, M. (2012) ‘The Great Open Access Swindle’ http://blog.okfn.org/2012/10/22/the-great-open-access-swindle/
Who needs access (2016) https://whoneedsaccess.org/
