Open Access Publishing: A Study of UC Berkeley Faculty Views and Practices

Abstract:  This project focused on open access (OA) publishing, which enhances researcher productivity and impact by increasing dissemination of, and access to, research. The study looked at the relationship between faculty’s attitudes toward OA and their OA publishing practices, including the roles of funding availability and discipline. The project team compared University of California Berkeley (Berkeley) faculty’s answers to questions related to OA from the 2018 Ithaka Faculty Survey with the faculty’s scholarly output in the Scopus database. Faculty Survey data showed that 71% of Berkeley faculty, compared to 64% of faculty nationwide, support a transition to OA publishing. However, when selecting a journal to publish in, faculty indicated that a journal having no cost to publish in was more important than having no cost to read. After joining faculty’s survey responses and their publication output, the data sample included 4,413 articles published by 479 Berkeley faculty from 2016 to 2019. With considerable disciplinary differences, the OA publication output for this sample, using data from Unpaywall, represented 72% of the total publication output. The study focused on Gold OA articles, which usually require authors to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs) and which accounted for 18% of the publications. Overall, the study found a positive correlation between publishing Gold OA and the faculty’s support for OA (no cost to read). In contrast, the correlation between publishing Gold OA and the faculty’s concern about publishing cost was weak. Publishing costs concerned faculty in all subject areas, whether or not their articles reported research funding. Thus, Berkeley Library’s efforts to pursue transformative publishing agreements and prioritize funding for a program subsidizing publishing fees seem like effective strategies to increase OA. 

Library Impact Research Report: Open Access Publishing: A Study of UC Berkeley Faculty Views and Practices – Association of Research Libraries

Overall, the UC Berkeley study found a positive correlation between publishing gold OA and the faculty’s support for OA (no cost to read). In contrast, the correlation between publishing gold OA and the faculty’s concern about publishing cost was weak. Publishing costs concerned faculty in all subject areas, whether or not their articles reported research funding. Therefore, UC Berkeley Library’s efforts to pursue transformative publishing agreements and prioritize funding for a program subsidizing publishing fees seem like effective strategies to increase OA.

New OSC resource to support book authors interested in open access publishing – Office of Scholarly Communication

The UC Office of Scholarly Communication has created a new resource for faculty who have questions about open access book publishing. Created by a working group that included faculty, librarians, and a representative from UC Press, the newly created OA books FAQ is intended to address some questions that faculty may have about their OA publishing options and provide links to additional resources that will help faculty navigate this landscape.

“Researching factors influencing faculty engagement with open practices” by Jessica Kirschner

“Researching factors influencing faculty engagement with open practices” provides an overview of a current research project at VCU which is attempting to identify which factors influence faculty engagement with open practices (for this project, publishing an open access article or book or creating or customizing OER), focusing on the VCU School of Education. An initial quantitative survey has been completed and the project will soon move to a qualitative data collection phase of interviews and focus groups. This presentation provides an overview on the current project status, initial results, how the team hopes to apply our findings, and next steps. Initial results includes how faculty are generally supportive of the concept of open, but are unsure how it will be received by promotion and tenure committees.

Motivating Factors among University Faculty for Adopting Open Educational Resources: Incentives Matter

Despite an increasing need for integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) into teaching at higher education institutions in North America, advocates could better understand how faculty are motivated to adopt OER. In particular, there is a lack of knowledge about how added incentives can help motivate faculty to adopt OER. Given reported barriers affecting OER adoption, evaluating what additional incentives might encourage faculty to try using OER will help higher education institutions understand what strategies would likely be effective in promoting OER use. This paper examines motivating factors regarding OER adoption using a case study in the University System of Georgia; for the study, we conducted an instructor survey with 77 respondents. The results showed that faculty were motivated not only by factors reported in prior literature such as the lowered costs and improved student learning but also by additional incentives provided by the University System of Georgia, including a monetary incentive and recognition for using OER. We also found that faculty experienced a variety of benefits and challenges associated with the adoption of OER. The study contributes to the understanding of what university faculty perceive and experience in adopting OER. In particular, we offer practical knowledge regarding additional incentives that higher education institutions could consider to motivate faculty to adopt OER and help them realize the benefits of using OER in their teaching.

A Lesson From UC’s Split With Elsevier: Keep the Faculty in the Loop – The Chronicle of Higher Education

The University of California system’s announced break with the publishing giant Elsevier sent a clear message to research universities across the country: If your institution wants to follow suit, get ready to share a lot of information with your faculty….”

University of British Columbia: Recognizing Open in Promotion and Tenure | EDUCAUSE

“Driven by student government advocacy, one university’s change to its promotion and tenure guide highlights an important way institutions can incentivize open practices and provide a model for others to follow. Last year, the University of British Columbia (UBC) made a giant leap in the support of open education: the inclusion of language recognizing open educational resources (OER) in the institution’s “Guide to Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Procedures at UBC.” Driven by effective student government advocacy, this change highlights the importance of tenure and promotion as a way for institutions to incentivize open practices and will hopefully provide a model for others to follow….”

Open Access Policy Adopted by IU Bloomington Faculty | Indiana University Libraries

“In 2017, the Bloomington Faculty Council unanimously approved an Open Access policy that ensures that faculty scholarship will be accessible and available to the public for future generations. Adopting such a policy reduces barriers to research and learning by making research available on the public internet to be downloaded and shared freely, making it possible for scholarship to be more widely read and cited than literature that appears in closed-access, licensed journal databases. The policy can be found at IUB’s VPFAA site and an FAQ has been posted to our website. The Scholarly Communication staff will be available to help authors deposit their work in IUScholarWorks Open, our repository for the Open Access policy.. Faculty members may also contact us to opt-out of the policy or opt-out themselves using the same repository. Resources are available for faculty who are interested in learning more about the impact and implementation of the policy. Please direct questions to iusw@indiana.edu or the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs.”

On passing an open access policy at Florida State University: From outreach to implementation | Soper | College & Research Libraries News

I’d like to share a little bit about the road to OA policy adoption and implementation at FSU. By reflecting on some of the factors that paved the way to our successful vote, as well as the nature of the work that followed, my hope is that our experience might help or encourage those who are considering or working toward adopting a policy at their own institutions.

New milestones for open access policies at MIT | MIT Libraries News

MIT has reached a new open access milestone: 46 percent of faculty members’ articles published since the OA policy passed in 2009 are now being shared in the Open Access Articles Collection of DSpace@MIT. (Last year, the number was 44 percent.)

Earlier this month, the MIT Libraries celebrated making live in DSpace the first paper to rely on rights retained under the new MIT authors’ opt-in open access license. The license was announced by MIT’s vice president for research, Maria Zuber, in April.

Beyond the Paywall: Examining Open Access and Data Sharing Practices Among Faculty at Virginia Tech Through the Lens of Social Exchange

“The movement towards open access has allowed academic researchers to communicate and share their scholarly content more widely by being freely available to Internet users. However, there are still issues of concern among faculty in regards to making their scholarly output open access. This study surveyed Virginia Tech faculty (N = 264) awareness and attitudes toward open access practices. In addition, faculty were asked to identify factors that inhibited or encouraged their participation in open access repositories. Findings indicate that while the majority of Virginia Tech faculty are seeking to publish in open access, many are unaware of the open access services provided by the university and even less are using the services available to them. Time, effort, and costs were identified as factors inhibiting open access and data sharing practices. Differences in awareness and attitudes towards open access were observed among faculty ranks and areas of research. Virginia Tech will need to increase faculty awareness of institutional open access repositories and maximize benefits over perceived costs if there is to be more faculty participation in open access practices.”

 

Indiana U Faculty Approve Open-Access Policy

“The Faculty Council at Indiana University at Bloomington on Monday unanimously approved an open-access policy intended to improve the availability of peer-reviewed scholarly articles written by the university’s researchers. Under the terms of the policy, faculty members (unless they opt out) are required to submit electronic copies of their scholarly articles so that the university can store them in an open-access repository. Similar policies have been approved at Duke University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, among others.”
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