Demystifying open access misconception for improved research discoverability
Keywords:
Scholarly communication , Open-Access publishingAbstract
The dissemination of knowledge and scholarly communication depends heavily on open-access publishing. Open access refers to free and instant online access to research articles paired with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment, in the context of scholarly communication. However, financial limitations, antiquated academic infrastructure, and misunderstandings about open access sometimes impede access to scientific knowledge and research discoveries in developing nations. Erroneous beliefs about lower study quality, copyright issues, and financial hardships sometimes deter researchers from adopting open access. In addition, the benefits and guiding principles of open-access publication are not well known to many scholars and organizations in developing nations. This study hopes to dispel these myths and demonstrate the value in the discoverability and distribution of worthwhile research, which will advance science and advance the socioeconomic growth of these countries. The article aims to establish open access as an opportunity by addressing the misconception that frames it as a threat. The study conducted a literature review on open access. A structured assessment of past and contemporary literature enhanced the selection, categorization, and summarization of findings and deliberation on open access publishing quality control, marketing of intellectual output, copyright, and achieving compliance in institutions of higher learning. The study findings created awareness of the potential benefits of higher citations and exposure that emerge from open access integration into academics' operations. Also, the study demonstrated how open access unlatch the institution to the public and eludes a culture of secrecy and scepticism that has been pervasive throughout scientific research. The study will significantly influence policies on scholarly activities resulting to more open access publishing.
References
Africa Journal Online (AJOL), & International Network for Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) (2017a). Official list of JPPS-assessed Journals. Retrieved from https://www.journalquality.info/en/journals-all/?platform ¼&rating_id=&country_id=110
AJOL and INASP. (2017b). Journal Publishing Practices and Standards. Retrieved from https://www.journalquality. info/en/
Alperin, J. P. (2019). Altmetrics come to OJS: Announcing the Paperbuzz Plugin j Public Knowledge Project. Retrieved from https://pkp.sfu.ca/2019/04/30/announcingthe-ojs-paperbuzz-plugin/
Chan, J., Gillis, R., Hatherill, J., Jay, S., Kosavic, A., Macfarland, D., … Sprout, B. (2019). Getting found, staying found, increasing impact: Enhancing readership and preserving content for OJS journals, second edition. Getting found: Building Visibility, 1–21.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) (2019). Publishing best practices and basic standards for inclusion. Retrieved from https://doaj.org/publishers#advice
Dora, M., Sa, M. K., & Kumar, T. G. (2021). Quality Attributes of Open Access Journal: A Case Study of Selected Open Access LIS Journals from India. The Serials Librarian, 81(3-4), 253-264.
International Network for Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP). (2019). Journal Publishing Practices and Standards (JPPS).
Mauthner, N. S., & Parry, O. (2013). Open access digital data sharing: Principles, policies and practices. Social Epistemology, 27(1), 47-67.
McKiernan, E. C., Bourne, P. E., Brown, C. T., Buck, S., Kenall, A., Lin, J., ... & Yarkoni, T. (2016). How open science helps researchers succeed. elife, 5, e16800.
Nazim, M. (2021). Analysing Open Access Uptake by Academic and Research Institutions in India. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 41(2).
Ndungu, M. W. (2020). Publishing with open journal systems (OJS): a Librarian’s perspective. Serials Review, 46(1), 21-25.
Nicholas, D., Watkinson, A., Boukacem-Zeghmouri, C., Rodríguez-Bravo, B., Xu, J., Abrizah, A., Swigoń, M. and Herman, E. (2017) Early Career Researchers: Scholarly Behaviour and the Prospect of Change. Learned Publishing, 30, 157-166. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1098
Nobes, A., & Harris, S. (2019). Open Access in low-and middle-income countries: attitudes and experiences of researchers [version 1; peer review: 2.
Robinson-Garcia, N., Costas, R., & van Leeuwen, T. N. (2020). Open Access uptake by universities worldwide. PeerJ, 8, e9410.
Severin, A., Egger, M., Eve, M. P., & Hürlimann, D. (2018). Discipline-specific open access publishing practices and barriers to change: an evidence-based review. F1000Research, 7.
Sumadevi, S. and Kumar, B.T.S. (2018) Awareness of Open Access Scholarly Publications among Science Faculty Members in Selected Universities of Karnataka State. International Conference on Scholarly Communication, Open-Access Publishing and Ethics (SCOPE-2018), Vijayawada, 25-26 October 2018, 16.
Tarus, V., Namande, B. W., & Maake, B. (2022). Utilization of open-access library resources by postgraduate students at Karatina University, Kenya. Open Access Library Journal, 9(10), 1-17.
Tennant, J. P., Crane, H., Crick, T., Davila, J., Enkhbayar, A., Havemann, J., … & Vanholsbeeck, M. (2019). Ten myths around open scholarly publishing.
