7-Transforming the Information Ecosystem

Transcript:

Over the last two decades, these inequities within the information ecosystem have started to be addressed. Some government officials, administrators, faculty, librarians, and students are working in concert to create models and incentives in order to transform scholarly publishing.

● Some governments have created policies that require authors to make research outputs openly accessible if they receive grant or state funding.

● A few universities are discussing the role that impact factor plays informing university ranking decisions and are proposing ways to reform ranking systems.

● University administrators and faculty senates are financially incentivizing the creation of and contributions to journals that maintain the high standards of academic publishing but are available for everyone to read. These journals are often called Open Access journals.

● Faculty and scholarly societies are revising tenure and merit standards to be less centered on metrics like impact factor.

●Some academics are teaching their students about the profit-based culture of the publishing industry. These academics are opting to publish in Open Access journals in order to make their content available beyond a privileged few.

●Academics who are invited to serve on prestigious editorial boards of expensive journals are declining and finding other professional service in which to engage. Others are transitioning journals to Open Access.

●Some libraries are boycotting expensive publishers.

But there’s still much more to do to equalize the information ecosystem. As a student, you can join these waves of change that have been growing for decades. As you work closely with your faculty mentors, consider exploring open scholarship in your writing, negotiating your author agreements to prioritize your rights, and making available openly accessible versions of each of your publications. 

When you do, you’ll be joining an important movement to remedy inequities in the way that research is produced and shared, ensuring that everyone can access information, regardless of their institutional affiliation or socioeconomic status.