Faculty Use of Open-Access Journals: A Case Study of Faculty Publications and Cited References at a California University

Kendall Faulkner

doi:10.3390/publications9030039

Abstract

Many in the library world see open-access (OA) publishing as the way of the future, necessary to combat ever-rising costs, expand knowledge and information production, and level the playing field for researchers and students across the world. However, ingrained notions of the publishing process in academia, and concerns over OA journals’ quality and costs often make researchers less enthusiastic. This study takes a close look at faculty habits at the college-department level by reviewing faculty publishing habits and cited references in those publications. Results show that the faculty in the Psychology Department at California State University, Los Angeles regularly publish at all OA levels, but utilize formal self-archiving less than what is found in their cited references. Furthermore, the department faculty cite fully OA (Gold) journals less than they publish in them.

Highlights

1 author only published with another faculty member, and 2 did not publish peer-reviewed journal articles during the study period
One other faculty member had all of their publications available on an academic social network
13% of articles were published in Gold+ journals, a slightly lower instance than the overall percentage of journals indexed in Scopus listed as OA (16%)

Summary

Introduction

Some researchers are hesitant to publish in OA journals for various reasons, including concerns about quality, predatory journals, costs, or fear that fees make publishing more difficult [1]. These concerns may be more prevalent among arts, humanities, and social-sciences researchers [2,3,4]. Other researchers can be ambivalent about OA publishing, as Tenopir [3], and Rowley et al [5] found, and may require encouragement to actively pursue OA publishing. A modest number of previous studies sought to understand the nuances of researchers’.

Methods

Results

Conclusion