Some Mild Corrections: On the Press Coverage of the OAH and AHA Statements on Dissertations

abernard102@gmail.com 2013-12-20

Summary:

"On December 18 Inside Higher Ed (IHE) ran a story on the recent statement by the Organization of American Historians (OAH), which has joined the American Historical Association in recommending that universities give doctoral students the ability to opt out of online distribution of their dissertation for a reasonable period of time while they prepare their scholarship for print publication.  We are gratified that the OAH has joined the AHA arguing that PhD candidates ought to have a choice in how their work is disseminated in the digital environment. While pleased with the OAH’s statement, I remain dismayed by the continued misrepresentation of the AHA’s position by the press. The AHA is not pushing for embargos, or even recommending that students embargo their work. On the IHE’s website, I offered a mild correction of fact in the comments section, referring readers to the Q&A related to the AHA statement ... Misrepresentation of the AHA’s position has been rampant. Debate is good. These are important conversations. But let’s at least get the facts right. In addition, the article in College & Research Libraries that is once again cited should be read beyond the abstract. For an in-depth look at how the data in that article suggest that publishers are still wary, and even outright dismissive, of dissertations that have been distributed online, see William Cronon’s essay for AHA Today. Moreover, advocating choice with regard to digital dissemination of scholarship is not a “reactionary” position. In fact, it is largely consistent with the open access policy for professors adopted by the University of California (UC), which allows authors to opt out if free online dissemination interferes with their publication plans. Even further, the AHA and OAH’s position is also largely consistent with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOIA), which recommends that all dissertations be made open via an institutional repository, but also insists on an opt-out policy ..."

Link:

http://blog.historians.org/2013/12/mild-corrections-press-coverage-oah-aha-statements-dissertations/

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.policies oa.comment oa.universities oa.societies oa.students oa.embargoes oa.etds oa.history oa.colleges oa.aha oa.oah oa.hei oa.humanities oa.ssh

Date tagged:

12/20/2013, 23:54

Date published:

12/20/2013, 18:54