[Air-L] Elsevier and academia.edu

[Ben Light]

The other institutional pressure that come into being here too is the
whole issue of University rankings.  For example the Times Higher list
incorporates things like citations from journals into their approach (even
for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences where they aren't as relevant
as to STEM subjects).  This further feeds into the point Mary-Helen makes
about why we are 'encouraged' to publish in certain journals. These
journals are almost exclusively gated.  Where they are not, there are
hefty fees for making the work open access.

Also, interestingly, in the UK, research councils are starting to give
money to institutions to pay for making gated material open access…  This
is because, in the UK, research councils are now, and in my opinion quite
rightly, requiring that the research they fund is made available open
access. For how long the paying of fees to gated journals will continue,
or how sustainable it is, I have no idea.

So,there's a whole politic in here regarding the intertwining of
commercial interests, open access, University rankings, public/private
funding of research, job security etc…

Ben
Ben Light 
PhD MSc BA(Hons)
Professor of Digital Media Studies

Creative Industries Faculty
School of Media, Entertainment and Creative Arts
Queensland University of Technology
Creative Industries Precinct Z1-515
Musk Avenue Kelvin Grove
QLD 4059 Australia

Phone:    +61 7 3138 8280
Twitter: @doggyb
QUT: http://www.staff.qut.edu.au/staff/lightb
Open Access Publications:
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Light,_Ben.html
Personal Site: http://www.benlight.org






On 11/12/2013 10:25, "Mary-Helen Ward" <mary-helen.ward at sydney.edu.au>
wrote:

>The UK, Australia and NZ (and possibly other countries that I don't know
>about) don¹t have a 'tenure' system. We have a continuing appointment
>system, which means you may have a permanent job, subject to certain
>conditions. A common condition is that you remain 'research active', part
>of which involves the maintenance of a publication record. This may vary
>in detail between institutions and countries, but there is always some
>requirement to publish, and often this has to be in journals of a certain
>rank.
>
>At my institution last year several academics on continuing appointment
>received letters asking them to explain why their publication record was
>not up the standard expected, and some were offered redundancies or
>teaching-only positions as a result of their response.
>
>Mary-Helen
>-- 
>DR MARY-HELEN WARD | Education Design Manager: Sciences Technology and
>Business
>Sydney eLearning | Office of the DVC Education
>THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
>T +61 2 9351 7399  | F +61 2 9036 0000  | M +61 402 388424
>
>
>
>
>On 10/12/13 1:38 AM, "Suely Fragoso" <suely.fragoso at ymail.com> wrote:
>
>>Hi again. Great and enlightening discussion!
>>
>>I would like to comment two points:
>>
>>First, I'm with Daren - why publish with the big companies after tenure?
>>I confess I never understood the logic of the US academic environment, or
>>even if and why  the same rules and values apply in Europe, Canada, Asia,
>>etc. It seems that Latin America is the only exception in a world where
>>everybody runs the same tenure system (there are reasons to publish with
>>the big business here as well,  but I will not bore the majority
>>describing what appears to be a strictly regional set of oddities).
>>
>>It seems that everyone aggrees that open access is better in that it
>>makes our work available to a much larger group of readers. However, it
>>is not so easy to locate good reliable open access journals that run a
>>proper and well intentioned peer review system and  that will not
>>surprise us at the end of the reviewing process by charging a
>>'publication fee to cover the costs' (I know publishing have costs, I
>>have been involved in all parts of the process, from scientific editor to
>>support in the printing factory. Believe me, the fees are
>>disproportionate).
>>I remember having heard of a wiki listing open access journals with
>>information about their reviewing practices, who is 'behind the
>>curtains', etc. Does it exist?  If not, I think it is  time we start one.
>>
>>My second point is why we make our work available in Academia.edu. I
>>would say it is because papers in Academia.edu get higher rankings from
>>big bad giant Google (I suppose Academia.edu *is* Google. Is it?) Ranking
>>higher means that more people get to read our work, as Academia.edu
>>profits from it but does not charge the reader (or the author). I am not
>>saying it is good or we can't do better - of course we can. I'm just
>>trying to locate what is needed to lead our initiatives to success.
>>
>>Suely
>>
>>Enviado do Yahoo Mail no Android
>>
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