Scholarly Communication and Publishing: Overview

Introduction

The scholarly communication and publishing system, the process researchers use to publish and share the results of their work, has become economically unsustainable for libraries, limiting their ability to provide researchers with access to vital research materials needed to conduct their work. At a time when digital access should enable researchers to maximize the reach and impact of their research results, the restrictive business practices of many publishers have placed constraints on openly sharing them.

UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley

"Research results must be widely accessible in order to advance knowledge and the plain fact is that we are losing access to vital research information. Universities must lead the way in changing the research communication system."

Escalating journal costs, diminishing access for researchers

From 1986 to 2002, the consumer price index rose 64 percent, journal prices rose 227 percent, and book prices rose 75 percent.
Between 1993 and 2002 the price of journals increased by 128.6%. The consumer price index increased only 24.5%, natural gas 27%, and medical care 41.8%.
Annual price increases for 2006 are projected to average approximately 8%, an inflation rate roughly 3 times the increase in the consumer price index.
Journals, especially scientific journals, have increased in price to the point where most public universities cannot sustain research-quality collections. In contrast, library budgets continue to decline annually, diminishing their buying power both for journals and books.
From 1986 to 2002, the number of journal titles published increased 58 percent and library journal expenditures increased 227 percent, but the number of titles typically acquired only increased 9 percent (source: Association of Research Libraries).

Faculty and researchers must take action along with the UW–Madison Libraries and University Administration to regain control of their intellectual property and the scholarly communication and publishing system.

What is UW–Madison doing?

The UW–Madison Faculty Senate resolution encourages faculty and researchers to “take action to ensure that their works are accessible to advance research and learning” and consider alternative forms of publication. Find out more…
The UW–Madison Libraries have established the Scholarly Communication & Publishing committee to champion sustainable, open access models of digital publishing of scholarly works, in collaboration with academic communities of the University and beyond. Find out more …

What Can Faculty & Researchers Do?

As authors, reviewers, and editors of research materials, faculty and researchers have the power to influence the scholarly publishing system. Following are some actions you might consider taking:

Find out more

Open Access Initiatives

What is open access?

Open access literature is available on the internet, both free of charge and of most copyright and licensing restrictions. It includes both peer-reviewed literature and author pre-prints and other research materials available in digital repositories that have been made openly available as a public good. The open access movement emerged from three conferences:

For more information on open access, see Peter Suber’s “A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access.”

Initiatives

Public Library of Science

“The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a nonprofit organization committed to making the world’s scientific and medical literature freely available online, without restrictions on use or further distribution, free from private or government control…PLoS publishes peer-reviewed, open-access scientific and medical journals that include original research as well as timely feature articles. All PLoS articles are immediately freely accessible online, deposited in the free public archive PubMed Central (PMC), and can be redistributed and reused according to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.”

UW-Madison Libraries have an institutional membership in PLoS and authors are eligible for reduced or no page charges when publishing in a PLoS journal. Find out more…

BioMed Central

“All original research articles published by BioMed Central (BMC) are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication. BioMed Central views open access to research as essential in order to ensure the rapid and efficient communication of research findings.”

UW-Madison Libraries have a supporting membership in BMC and UW-Madison authors are eligible for reduced fee when publishing in a BMC journal. Please contact the SCP if you need assistance with this process. Find out more…

NIH Public Access Policy

Effective April 7, 2008, all investigators who are funded by NIH in whole or in part must submit their peer-reviewed journal articles to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. These articles will be made publicly available on PubMed Central within 12 months of the publication date.

NIH Public Access Policy Overview (UW-Madison)

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a non-profit corporation founded to assist authors in granting limited rights to readers and “offers a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors and artists. [They] have built upon the ‘all rights reserved’ of traditional copyright to create a voluntary ’some rights reserved’ copyright.”

See also: