Abstract
Despite implicit and explicit expectations that research inform their practice, social workers are unlikely to have access to published research articles. The traditional publishing model does not support public access (i.e., no publisher paywall barrier) to scholarly journals. Newer models of publishing allow free access to research including open access publishing and deposit of scholarship in institutional or disciplinary repositories. This study examined public access to articles in the top 25 social work journals. A random sample of article citations from a total of 1,587 was assessed, with the result that 52% of citations had no full-text access. Of the remaining 48% of citations with full-text access, it is questionable most will remain available long term due to possible copyright violations. Citations from the random sample show only minimal usage of institutional or disciplinary repositories as a means of sharing research. Establishing this baseline measure of access to research is an important first step in understanding the barriers for social workers in accessing research to inform practice. Recommendations for increasing access to research include publishing in open access journals and utilizing full text repositories.
Highlights
Despite implicit and explicit expectations that research inform their practice, social workers are unlikely to have access to published research articles
From the total number of 1,587 research article citations retrieved from the 25 journals, a random sample of 638 citations created by a random generator for Google Sheets was selected in accordance with a 95% confidence level with +/- 3 confidence interval
Within the parameters of this study, very few articles would be available to users not affiliated with an institution or some other form of subscription access without the popularity of ResearchGate, which accounted for 30% of full-text access
Summary
Despite implicit and explicit expectations that research inform their practice, social workers are unlikely to have access to published research articles. Citations from the random sample show only minimal usage of institutional or disciplinary repositories as a means of sharing research. Establishing this baseline measure of access to research is an important first step in understanding the barriers for social workers in accessing research to inform practice. The Dean of the School of Social Work at my institution has informed me that she continually receives requests from alumni for off-campus access to databases and full-text journals. This access is seen as one of the most useful benefits they could receive. Pendell, MSIS, is the Social Work and Social Sciences Librarian and Associate Professor in the University Library, Portland State University, Portland, OR, 97201
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