What is Open Access?
Open Access (OA) is free, permanent, web-based access to scholarly publications. OA is the principle that research should be readily available immediately after publication and to anyone with an Internet connection. It is improving the way scholarly information is shared.
What is an Open Access Journal?
An Open Access journal is a scholarly journal that is freely available online to readers with access to the Internet. OA journal publishers use a funding model that does not charge readers or their institutions (e.g., libraries) for access. Instead, there are usually article processing fees that are the responsibility of the author, and may be covered by the author's research grant. More...
UFOAP: Funding Assistance for Publications in Open Access Journals
The University of Florida Open Access Publishing Fund (UFOAP) was launched on July 1, 2010 as a two year pilot project to support UF faculty, post-doctoral researchers, staff and students in their open access (OA) publishing endeavors by paying reasonable article-processing fees charged by open access journals when funds were not available from other sources. The UFOAP was initially funded by the Provost with $120,000. The Fund was continued in 2012 with the generous commitment of funding by the Provost in the amount of $75,000.
As of January 15, 2013, the UFOAP has been fully expended and we will not be accepting any additional applications at this time. Continuation of the UFOAP in the future depends upon the verbal support and financial commitment of all UF academic units. We urge our UFOAP recipients and open access supporters across campus to contact their department chairs and college deans and share your thoughts about the importance of the UFOAP and open access at UF.
The Libraries continue to encourage faculty to consider OA when publishing their scholarly works. Recent studies show that OA benefits the author because articles published online are made available much faster than those in traditional proprietary journals, thereby giving their research timely visibility, higher citation rates, and greater overall impact.
For more information on Open Access or the UFOAP, please feel free to contact Christine Fruin, Scholarly Communications Librarian, at christine.ross@ufl.edu or at (352) 273-2710. You may also visit the Open Access LibGuide for more information.
A Letter from Dr. John P. Hayes, Dean for Research and Director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, to IFAS Faculty
Colleagues,
Open-access publications are an important way to make our research information accessible to a broader audience, and I am very supportive of their use. However, in addition to some excellent outlets for open-access publication, the open access movement has also spawned a plethora of for-profit outlets that are of dubious quality. If you are like me, you are regularly asked if you would like to publish in some of these outlets, or if you would like to serve on their editorial boards. I recently received a note from one of our faculty, who attached the message below provided for faculty at Wageningen University. The note has link to a list of potentially predatory publishers compiled by a librarian at the University of Colorado that you might be interested in seeing. The list does not purport to be the final say on the quality of these journals, but rather is something that you might use as an “early warning system” to consider before publishing. I hope you find it of some value…
“A recent and notable phenomenon is the so-called “predatory publishers", who want to get their piece of the successful Open Access journals. Some OA journals are financed by author contributions that are charged when an article is accepted. PloS and BioMedCentral are examples of publishers that have successfully tested and applied this model. This year, PLoS ONE will publish more than 18 000 articles at a publishing cost of US$ 1350.00 per article.”
“Several dubious publishers are trying to exploit this model without delivering scientific quality. They are publishing articles without adequate peer review and are filling their journals' editorial boards with renowned names in the research field without the researcher's knowledge. In short, these predatory publishers are simply looking to make quick money by publishing scientific articles. Jeffrey Beall, librarian at the University of Colorado, is keeping a list of predatory publishers. If you receive aggressive emails from an unknown publisher to publish with them, check to see if they’re on Beall's list of predatory publishers.”
John
The Institutional Repository at the University of Florida (IR@UF) is the digital archive for the intellectual output of the University of Florida community, with research, news, outreach and educational materials.
The University of Florida Libraries established and support the IR@UF in order to offer a central location for the collection, preservation and dissemination of scholarly, research and creative production alongside historical materials from the University of Florida. The historical materials provide context for research and researchers, providing insight into the history, nature and culture of the university.
Open Access (OA) is a growing international movement, now in its 4th year, which uses the Internet to throw open the locked doors that once hid knowledge. It encourages the unrestricted sharing of research results with everyone, everywhere, for the advancement and enjoyment of science and society. Each year in October, the UF Libraries celebrate OPEN ACCESS WEEK with presentations focused on OA topics such as: Copyright and Creative Commons, Digital Scholarship Institutional Repositories Open Textbooks, Public Funding = Public Access and Open Access @ UF.
Please join us for Open Access Week 2012, October 23 and 24th, at the HSCL and Library West
