The Undue Cost of Academic Publishing - The Blue Review | The Blue Review

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Problematic Publishing and Tenure Practices

We believe that access to information is a universal human right, and journal articles available through the library are very expensive. Faculty can make a difference by choosing a path of open publishing, and also by engaging in conversations about these issues with their colleagues. This path has other author benefits, such as 'increases in citations, media attention, potential collaborators, job opportunities and funding opportunities.' Dissemination of open works can be tracked through download statistics from institutional repositories, social media mentions, or other alternative metrics. Faculty can present these metrics to Tenure committees to show scholarship can be measured beyond the pedigree or perceived standing of a publication and its dubious impact factor.

Ideally, all academics should engage in changing current publishing practices, and tenure committees should adapt to new ways of valuing scholarly impact. Making a commitment to publish via open access will expose scholarship and research to more people that want to read it, and it is something one can do right now. Letting the world have access to research is a crucial component of an aware and involved society. It won’t eliminate the non-credible stories, but maybe there will be an increase in awareness by the public, especially if scholars work to make scholarship more available to people beyond the ivory tower."