6-Inequities in the Ecosystem

Transcript:

Academic journal publishing now has a host of inequities that negatively affect the information ecosystem.

First, there is often little reciprocity between higher education and journal publishing. For example, academics contribute labor and ideas and are compensated for these contributions by their universities, not by publishers. Journal publishing contracts often restrict how academics can use their own research. Sometimes professors can't even use their own publications in their classrooms without paying a publisher!

Second, only a privileged few have access, or enough access, to the information that they need.

1. In 2018, the average Big 10 Academic Library spent almost 18 million dollars on library materials, including electronic access to journals.

2. Not every library can afford to purchase all of the information that their community needs. Not only does this impact librarians’ relationships with other researchers on their own campuses, it creates disparities in access even within higher education.

3. When university libraries can longer afford their journal subscriptions, academics lose access to important information they need for teaching and research.

4. It’s not just academics who need scholarly articles. Citizens have a right to data that inform their decisions on critical issues, such as medical care and voting.

It is difficult for academics to remedy these inequities individually. While an academic’s reputation, including her case for tenure, improves when she publishes in top tier journals, her university also benefits through improved institutional rankings, leading to a stronger reputation and higher enrollments. Currently, the system for ranking the world’s universities relies in part on metrics for judging the quality of academic journal publishing.

The next chalk talk,Transforming the Information Ecosystem, will provide steps you can take to make a difference.