The momentum towards open access journal articles picked up substantially this year. Even though we’re still a long way from the ideal world we wish we had, where all academic scholarship can be freely read and used by anyone, anywhere, at least we are well on the way. More and… read more
Open access
New preprint repository: bioRxiv
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has launched a preprint repository for the biological sciences called bioRxiv. bioRxiv is a place for scientists to deposit their unpublished manuscripts. This is similar to the preprint repository, arXiv, which has been in existence since 1991 and serves mainly researchers in physics, mathematics, and computer… read more
Letter in Support of FASTR
The leaders of dozens of universities have added their names to a letter written in support of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR). If passed, FASTR would provide for public access to the results of much of the government-funded research in the United States. SPARC letter: http://www.sparc.arl.org/letter-congress-higher-education-community-supports-FASTR
OA Week 2013 wrap-up
Thanks to everyone who showed up for OA Week 2013 events! We had great discussions about OA issues and hope we sparked some long term interest in OA. A big thanks to everyone who helped make our first OA Week a success. In addition to everyone on the planning group,… read more
OA Week 2013 in review
Dates and times for OA Week 2013 events: #utopenaccess Monday, October 21st, 4-6 pm: Wikipedia Editathon in the Perry Castañeda Library (PCL 1.124) Celebrate Open Access Week by joining other students, faculty, staff, librarians, and community members interested in becoming Wikipedians and improving the open educational content of this online… read more
OA podcast from Georgia Tech
Three librarians from Georgia Tech have put together a podcast called Information Now: Open Access and the Public Good. The librarians are Lizzy Rolando, Wendy Hagenmaier, and Fred Rascoe. They talk with Dan Cohen (DPLA), Peter Suber (Harvard University), Christine George (Faculty Services Librarian at SUNY Buffalo), Kari Watkins (Asst.… read more
What is Open Access?
Many people have questions about open access and all of the jargon people use when talking about it. We’ve provided the glossary below to help explain common terms associated with open access. Article processing charge (APC): The fee paid to a publisher to make the article freely accessible from the time… read more
Open Access and UT
The Daily Texan Editorial Board published an article today on open access. They discuss the recent Science article by John Bohannon, increasing serials pricing at UT and other universities, and the benefits to making your work freely available. Daily Texan article: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/opinion/2013/10/11/despite-flaws-open-access-is-worth-the-price
OA Scholarly Publishing with the Texas Digital Library
Learn about the scholarly publishing opportunities available to faculty members through the Texas Digital Library (TDL), a consortium of academic libraries that provides technology services in support of research, scholarship, and learning. Friday, October 25th, Noon – 1:00pm in the Student Activity Center (SAC) Room 1.118 Representatives from the TDL… read more
Publishers behaving badly
A recent article in Science Magazine, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/60.summary, reveals a troubling problem with peer review at some scientific journals. The author, John Bohannon, submitted a bogus, scientifically and ethically flawed paper to 304 Gold OA journals (meaning they charge a fee to publish), and so far 157 journals have accepted the article.… read more
