Sharing your research with the world via open access publishers | eSocSci

"The Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) formally kicked off the open access movement in 2002 and has remained dedicated to the cause. According to BOAI’s definition, 'open access' is about making peer-reviewed research accessible to the public – free to download, copy and distribute without legal or technical hassles, as long as the authors are appropriately acknowledged and cited. There are a growing number of New Zealand and international open access scholarly journals, which make it easier for academics to share their research with the public; however, there are risks. Various online blogs are either supportive or critical of open-access journals. I will mention two such blogs – one in support of open access research, and one which highlights the risk for academics in using these avenues for publishing their research. The Scholarly Open Access blog, written by Jeffrey Beall, provides a critical analysis of open access journals. Beall refers to questionable publishers as 'predatory' and provides a helpful list of criteria for assessing whether an open access publisher is credible. He says predatory publishers take shortcuts to make their websites appear functional and legitimate, such as spamming to increase membership numbers, and using unqualified peer reviewers. The goal of these predatory publishers is to charge academics for their publishing services (of debatable repute) which provide open access to the research. The broad scope of these journals is designed to attain more submissions in order to fulfil the ultimate big dollar goal, at the expense of academics and universities. Beall seems to know what he is talking about. Although he has been an academic librarian in the USA for over 22 years, he makes it clear this blog is drawn from his personal opinion. Beall writes annual reviews on open access publishers for the Charleston Advisor. His most recent review looks at five predatory open access megajournals on generic international science. On the other hand, there are definite upsides to open access research – sharing your knowledge with the wider public means society can benefit from the hard work put into research and writing. Richard Poynder’s blog Open & Shut? features opinion pieces about the benefits of open access publishing. Poynder is an independent journalist and the moderator of GOAL, the successor of the first American open access forum, which began in 1998. The blog features a series of essays by 12 open access advocates, titled 'The State of Open Access: Where are we, what still needs to be done?' Also included in Poynder’s blog is a useful list of open access research sources, for example the Public Library of Science (PLOS). I hope I have provided a little food for thought on the good, the bad and the ugly of open access publishing. More substantial guidance on open access publishing is available online. The New Zealand Government Open Access Licensing (NZGOAL) framework provides guidance for New Zealand agencies on releasing material for public use. Following its tenth birthday, the Budapest Open Access Initiative provided ten recommendations for progressing open access for scholarly research. Scholarly Open Access provides general and practical advice for academics choosing to share their knowledge through open access publishers. In summary, academics should be sure scholarly publishers are credible before approaching them to publicise their valuable research."