Open access and the Caribbean academic

Abstract

The potential which open access offers to Caribbean scholarly communication in general, and science and technology specifically, is an opportunity to shift the focus from one which has been publisher driven to one which is research driven. However, for this to become a reality, both the university and faculty will need to break free of the practices surrounding traditional publishing, tenure and promotion. In an attempt to assess readiness among science faculty at The University of the West Indies to make this transition, this exploratory study analyses their perceptions, knowledge and use of open access. The results revealed significant gaps in knowledge about, and minimal engagement with open access as a publication modality among this cohort.

Factors affecting authors' manuscript submission behaviour: A systematic review

“…The reputation of a journal and related organizations and personnel had a great influence on submission decisions (Iton & Iton, 2016; Peekhaus, 2017; Rowlands & Nicholas, 2006). Reputation included subjective evaluation indicators (e.g., perceived reputation, academic recognition, and academic status) and objective quantitative indicators (e.g., journal impact factor, Eigen factor, and journal ranking).…”

Academic Publishing, Internet Technology, and Disruptive Innovation

“…Open access journals are building credibility in the eyes of researchers as with the case of the large open access journals, PLOS ONE and PubMed Central. A gap remains, however, in the publishing of social science and business-related journals, which are areas of particular interest to developing countries such as those of Latin America and the Caribbean, where science research is not well developed (Iton & Iton, 2015;Troncoso, 2012 (Bjork, 2012). The state of confusion is compounded by the continuing change in "processes and policies, practices, and opportunities" (Broome, 2014).…”

“…Indeed, there is still resistance to open access publishing by some academics who consider that the newer open access journals lack legitimacy and credibility. Nonetheless, this position is changing, as evidenced by the indexing of open access journals in the Web of Science and Scopus (Björk, 2017) This article aims to create awareness of the emergence of open access publishing and stimulate an increase in publication of research articles, particularly in the Caribbean where a deficiency exists (Iton & Iton, 2015). The rest of this article discusses the methodology employed, an overview of the publishing landscape, the emergence of open access models of publishing, the argument that open access constitutes disruptive innovation, the impacts, and trends in open access publishing, and context-related conclusions.…”

Untitled

“…Open access journals are building credibility in the eyes of researchers as with the case of the large open access journals, PLOS ONE and PubMed Central. A gap remains, however, in the publishing of social science and business-related journals, which are areas of particular interest to developing countries such as those of Latin America and the Caribbean, where science research is not well developed (Iton & Iton, 2015;Troncoso, 2012).…”

“…The entry and rapid production of open access journals is considered by several reputable researchers as constituting a disruptive innovation that challenges the dominance of large commercial publishers and their subscription journals, thereby radically changing the industry (Clobridge, 2014b;Lafferty & Edwards, 2004;Peters et al, 2016;Wellen, 2013 (Clobridge, 2013). This embrace of open access publishing by governments and key stakeholders, such as libraries, academic researchers, and journal authors, was described as "a solution to a dysfunctional journals market and as a way of realizing the potential of the Internet to enhance impact and productivity of research" (Wellen, 2013 (Björk, 2017) This article aims to create awareness of the emergence of open access publishing and stimulate an increase in publication of research articles, particularly in the Caribbean where a deficiency exists (Iton & Iton, 2015). The rest of this article discusses the methodology employed, an overview of the publishing landscape, the emergence of open access models of publishing, the argument that open access constitutes disruptive innovation, the impacts, and trends in open access publishing, and context-related conclusions.…”