[Air-L] open-access is the future: boycott locked-down academic journals

[Cristina Lopez]

You're definitely not crazy, and in your blog entry I like that you make 
more specific suggestions for people to take action. An issue that is 
very much related: the obscenely high cost of journal subscriptions. For 
librarians, the rising cost of journal subscriptions is a big concern 
(and I would think those very expensive journals are the least 
accessible to people outside the university as well as the most strictly 
controlled in terms of copyright and distribution). From the perspective 
of sheer expense and budget pressures, the high cost of "locked-down" 
journals has many effects on scholarship in addition to access. Faced 
with tremendous budget pressure, libraries can't afford to subscribe to 
journals with great intellectual value but perhaps have lower 
circulation. The high cost of journals is linked to the commodification 
of scholarship, which affects quality. Commodification tends to result 
in homogenization, whether we're talking about food or media or scholarship.

Librarians and faculty working together are already addressing the issue 
of the high cost of journal subscriptions, and I believe their concerns 
greatly overlap with yours. (I found this 
<http://www.library.uiuc.edu/scholcomm/journalcosts.htm> page at the 
University of Illinois Library Web site, for example.) Maybe you wrote 
your blog entry in haste, but to me your list of suggested actions 
implies greater focus on actions of individuals, albeit individuals who 
belong to particular groups.  So to your list of suggested action I 
would add that /organizing/ interested parties across campus and across 
institutions is very important. For example, while I think it's 
admirable for untenured faculty to take a stand, tenured faculty should 
take on a lot of the burden. (In my view this is exactly why tenure is 
so valuable--tenured faculty can raise a ruckus about all kinds of 
things.) And librarians and other staff have a lot to bring to the 
table, too.

Don't mourn. Organize! :)

Cris

Cristina Lopez, Ph.D.
Digital Media Center, OIT
University of Minnesota
212 Walter Library
117 Pleasant St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612.626.6639

Please visit our Web site: http://dmc.umn.edu



danah boyd wrote:
> At AOIR this year, we heard a lot about open-access journals and the  
> future of academic publishing.  These talks were extremely well- 
> received.  At the same time, I have a sneaking suspicion that most of  
> us came back home and continued to publish with the same respected  
> journals that we've always published with.  I've certainly seen a lot  
> of CFPs from folks wanting to publish issues in locked-down journals.
>
> Today, an article of mine was finally published in Sage's Convergence  
> series.  I should be excited by this, but I'm actually quite  
> depressed.  While I'm lucky to be visible enough that some folks will  
> find out about my article and ask me for a copy, most of the articles  
> in that issue will barely get read because they are virtually  
> inaccessible.  Additionally, while scholars will ask me for my  
> article, most policymakers and technologists will not, even though the  
> article is probably more relevant to them than it is to you.  I  
> believe that the locked-down nature of this publishing regime silences  
> academics while capitalizing off of our free labor at every turn.  I  
> think that this is unfair, unacceptable, and irresponsible.
>
> Thus, since I'm a blogger, I wrote a ranty blog entry about the topic: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2008/02/06/openaccess_is_t.html
>
> In said ranty blog entry, I laid out a set of steps for how to proceed  
> to make change.  For example, I think that all tenured faculty have a  
> responsibility to stop publishing in locked-down journals and help  
> build up the reputations of open-access ones.  (I even believe that  
> those who flout journal's restrictions by publishing their pieces on  
> their websites are failing future generations by not pushing for  
> change to happen.)  I offer steps for scholars, libraries,  
> universities, tenure committees, disciplinary associations, and  
> scholars at all stages.
>
> In short, I'd like to see a boycott of locked-down academic journals.   
> I think that it's particularly critical in our field since we are  
> doing work that is relevant beyond the academy.  I think that we need  
> to stand in solidarity to stop this abuse of our labor and this  
> silencing of our voices.
>
> Am I crazy?
>
> danah
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