Conservatism and Radicalism in Scholarly CommunicationsCaroline SuttonPresident, OASPACo-founder, Co-Action Publishing

The Northernmost Open Access Week Event 201018 October 2010, Umeå, Sweden

www.oaspa.org

Collins, J & Porras, I.J. (2002) Built to Last. Collins Busines Essentials: New York.

Preserve the core, stimulate progress along

non-core practices

Open Access publishers share the same core values as other scholarly publishers, but are

reshaping and driving change innon-core practices.

Non-core practices tend to be confused with core values.

Hence, changing practices can be accompanied by controversy and resistance due to a misunderstanding that one is changing core values.

Open Access OR thinking

Open Access OR Quality Open Access OR Impact Open Access OR Prestige Open Access OR Peer Review

The ”tyranny of OR”

What comprises the core of scholarly communications and what are non-core practices?

Quality Control

Evidence of scientific rigor Valid & reliable methodology Theoretical grounding Empirically sound/appropriate evidence

Independent contribution to the field Peer review prior to publication

Single Blind Double blind

Editorial control Editorial boards

Integrity

No plagiarism Authentic

Authors listed have made a contribution No commercial interests or (unstated)

conflicts of interests Editorial decisions are objective

Copyright Licensing CrossCheck

Knowledge is cumulative

Authors must cite where their ideas come from Reference lists Citations

Impact Citation counting Impact factor Metrics

Distribution Paper, electronic, new ”apps” Subscriptions, licensing Open Access

Literature and data mining, New search tools such as i hop, ”nano publications”

The scholarly Record is a permanent record The scientific record is permanent

An addendum than removal from the record Everything we publish must be around

for all posterity Archiving in paper National and international archives Repositories emerging LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, etc. Portico

(Prestige)

Indexing & rankings Rejection rates Editorial board Impact factor

Other non-core practices

Journals with/without issues Journals with/without pagination per

volume Selling subscriptions, licensing APCs Publishing journals Publishing books

Final comments/thoughts

We still need standards! Measure emerging non-core practices on

the basis of how well they support the core values/core of scholarly communications and scientific endeavor.

Be aware of these core values; they are driving your career.

Are we confusing any non-core practices with core values? As publishers, as researchers, as administrators.

Open access publishers are conservative people who are looking to drive progress.

Thank you!

Caroline.Sutton@co-action.net