Library Guides: Open Access and Scholarly Publishing: Solutions

Solutions to the Crisis

Most research results are being developed in electronic form, as word processing documents, data sets and images. This information can be shared electronically, via e-mail or posted online. Several solutions to the scholarly publishing crisis are available:

Publish in Open Access Resources

Journals have been developed that are only available online. Their content is free and available to all users. These journals are listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).Two open-access encyclopedias have been started: Encyclopedia of Life and the Encyclopedia of Earth. Consider publishing in open access publications instead of commercial journals and reference works. For more information, see the SPARC Open Access brochure.

Support Open Access

Since commercial publishers do not pay editors for their work, volunteer to serve as an editor of an open access journal. See DOAJ for information on open access journals in your field. In addition, when reviewing a colleague for tenure and promotion, treat publications in open access journals and commercial publications equally. Also see Jeffrey Beall's list of Predatory Publishers and Predatory Journals.

Learn about your Author Rights

Many publishers ask authors to sign a copyright agreement that transfers the copyright of a publication to the publisher. This means that the publisher has the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute the work. Authors might even have to ask for permission to use part or all of their own work (including graphs or images) in another publication or on a web site for a class. Retain some rights so that you and others can use the information in your publication. For more information on author rights, see the SPARC Author Rights brochure. Use the SHERPA/RoMEO web site to learn about a publisher's copyright practices. Also consider using the SPARC Author Addendum to reserve some of your rights as an author.

Deposit your publications in an Open Access Repository, Preprint Server, or on your personal web page

Repositories, collections of digital scholarly publications, have been developed at many universities. Some subject repositories have also been developed, such as ArXiv, a repository of physics, mathematics, and computer science publications, and RePEc (Research Papers in Economics), a repository of papers in economics. Publications in repositories can be searched using search systems such as Google Scholar.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
An online directory of and index to open access journals. DOAJ has reviewed the contents to ensure that participants meet their criteria for inclusion. A list of journals that were removed from DOAJ is also available.
Encyclopedia of Life
EOL is an online reference that provides information about all species on Earth developed by volunteers and edited by scientists at major natural history institutions.
Encyclopedia of Earth
An openly accessible, interdisciplinary encyclopedia on all aspects of the Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar can be used to search for articles in institutional repositories (which are available for free) and other sites (which may be free when accessed in the WIU Libraries).
Open Access from SPARC
SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, has developed a website with information on Open Access and why it is important.
SPARC Author Rights Author Addendum
The addendum is a legal instrument that can be used to modify publisher's agreement so that authors can retain some rights to their research.
SHERPA/RoMEO
This site can be used to view a summary of journal publisher copyright transfer agreements and the rights available to authors who want to publish in a particular journal.

PrePrint Servers

Agriculture

AgriXiv
A preprint server for agriculture and related sciences available through the Open Science Framework preprints server, which was developed in cooperation with the Center for Open Science.

Biology & Life Sciences

bioRxiv
bioRxiv is a free online archive that provides access to unpublished preprints in the life sciences and biology that is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. bioRxiv accepts preprints in all areas of the life sciences.

Chemistry

ECSarXiv
A preprint service for electrochemistry and solid state science and technology available through the Open Science Framework preprints server developed by the Center for Open Science.

Earth Sciences

EarthArXiv
EarthArXiv is an online archive that provides free access to unpublished preprints in the earth sciences and geology available through the Open Science Framework preprints server, which was developed in cooperation with the Center for Open Science.
ESSOAr
A preprint server for early research outputs in the Earth and space sciences, including preprints and posters presented at major scientific meetings, developed and supported by the American Geophysical Union.
PaleorXiv
A preprint server for paleontology that is available through the Open Science Framework preprints server, developed in cooperation with the Center for Open Science.

Engineering

engrXiv
An open archive of preprints in engineering available through the Open Science Framework preprints server developed by the Center for Open Science.

Law

LawArXiv
Openly accessible legal preprints available through the Open Science Framework preprints server, which was developed in cooperation with the Center for Open Science.

Library & Information Science

LIS Scholarship Archive
A preprint server for research in library and information science available through the Open Science Framework preprints server, which was developed in cooperation with the Center for Open Science.

Kineseology

SportRxiv
A preprint server for sport, exercise, and physical activity related research available through the Open Science Framework preprints server, which was developed in cooperation with the Center for Open Science.

Nutrition

NutriXiv
A preprint server for nutritional science related research available through the Open Science Framework preprints server, which was developed in cooperation with the Center for Open Science.

Physics, Mathematics & Computer Science

arXiv
ArXiv is a collection of e-prints in physics, mathematics, computer science and other subject areas.

Psychology

PsyArXiv
A preprint service for the psychological sciences that is maintained by the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science. It is available through the Open Science Framework preprints server, which was developed in cooperation with the Center for Open Science.

Social Sciences

SocArXiv
An open, moderated archive of papers in the social sciences that is available through the Open Science Framework preprints server, which was developed in cooperation with the Center for Open Science.

Theses

Thesis Commons
A preprint server for theses available through the Open Science Framework preprints server, which was developed in cooperation with the Center for Open Science.