what universities want from publishing stephen pinfield university of nottingham
TRANSCRIPT
What universities want from publishing
Stephen Pinfield
University of Nottingham
What universities want from publishing
do
?
The simple answer
Universities:– do research– do teaching
Want publishing to support and further their research and teaching
What universities want from publishing
“Universities”: complex organisations
Devolved structure Consultative (democratic?) processes Corporate strategy and local reality Suspicion of the centre Discipline differences Individual / research group oriented ‘Person culture’
Different universities
UK:– Russell Group – Other ‘old’ universities– New universities
USA:– Ivy League– etc.
What universities want from publishing
“Want”?
Desire, wish for– instinctive wants– informed wants
Need, ought to have
Academics: ‘innovative in their ideas, conservative in their work practices’
What universities want from publishing
“Publishing”?
Wide range of possibilities:– from: formal publication in peer-reviewed
journal– to: informal dissemination
Different factors– discipline differences– paper - electronic– etc.
So…
Differences within and between universities mean different ‘wants’ in relation to publishing
Different ‘wants’ reflect different levels of understanding on what is desirable and/or possible
There are different ideas of what ‘publishing’ is and what it is for
Universities and publishing
Universities as:
ProducersPurchasersConsumers
Producers: context
‘Publish or perish’
‘Get cited or get out’
‘The RAE is what counts’ (in the UK)
Producers
Rapid dissemination Wide dissemination Visibility Impact Peer endorsement No risks IPR-friendly policies Freedom to self-archive Freedom to re-use Document preparation?
Purchasers
Affordability Flexibility
– in pricing– in licences
Transparency Integratability Wide access Perpetual access Usage statistics
Consumers
Quality Quality markers / branding Ease of access
– desk-top– on / off-campus– wide range of publishers– easy authentication– current / archive
Navigability Post-publication indicators Value added features?
Achieving a balance
Tensions– e.g. rapid dissemination v. quality
Subscription-based status-quo– strong on quality, branding, document preparation
etc.– at the expense of access, impact, affordability etc.
Open-access: publishing, self-archiving
Open access: strengths
ProducersRapid disseminationWide disseminationVisibilityImpactPeer endorsementNo risksIPR-friendly policiesFreedom to self-archiveFreedom to re-useDocument preparation?
PurchasersAffordabilityFlexibility
in pricingin licences
TransparencyIntegratabilityWide accessPerpetual accessUsage statistics
ConsumersQualityQuality markers / brandingEase of access
desk-topon/off-campuswide range of publisherseasy authenticationcurrent / archive
NavigabilityPost-publication indicatorsValue added features?
Do universities want open access?
Universities want:– Impact– Affordability– Quality– Access
Can open access deliver?
Time for change
“Things have to change with the times - the “established” system isn’t perfect and change might be a good thing.”Anonymous respondent to the JISC/OSI Journal Authors Survey, 2004
