In their own words: academics talk about open access – Australasian Open Access Strategy Group
lterrat's bookmarks 2017-05-31
Summary:
"By Richard White – Manager, Copyright & Open Access Vice-Chancellor’s Office, University of Otago.
Many of you reading this post will – like me – be dedicated advocates for open access to research. To us the benefits are plain and it can be frustrating that we still, after fifteen or more years of OA as a movement, hear comments like:
'I have been told by my [head of department] that publishing in OA has less status because you are paying to get published – I am not sure that this is true but it seems to be a prevalent idea.'
This is an actual response from an early-career academic to a survey on OA publishing we conducted at my own institution, the University of Otago. It’s a particularly illustrative comment: the eager youngster finding his or her way as a researcher goes to the senior colleague for advice, who with a sweeping generalisation writes off OA as a legitimate option; the respondent seems to want to believe that making his or her research as findable and readable as possible is A Good Thing but demurs to the head of department’s opinion, and the myth that OA journals have some sort of monopoly on poor quality is continued."