Sciences de l'information - Publications // Information Studies - Publications

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Change and growth in open access journal publishing and charging trends 2011–2021
(2022) Morrison, Heather; Borges, Luan; Zhao, Xuan; Kakou, Tanoh Laurent; Shanbouhg, Amit Nataraj
This study examines trends in open access article processing charges (APCs) from 2011 – 2021, building on a 2011 study by Solomon & Björk (2012). Two methods are employed, a modified replica and a status update of the 2011 journals. Data is drawn from multiple sources and datasets are available as open data (Morrison et al, 2021). Most journals do not charge APCs; this has not changed. The global average per-journal APC increased slightly, from 906 USD to 958 USD, while the per-article average increased from 904 USD to 1,626 USD, indicating that authors choose to publish in more expensive journals. Publisher size, type, impact metrics and subject affect charging tendencies, average APC, and pricing trends. Half the journals from the 2011 sample are no longer listed in DOAJ in 2021, due to ceased publication or publisher de-listing. Conclusions include a caution about the potential of the APC model to increase costs beyond inflation. The university sector may be the most promising approach to economically sustainable no-fee OA journals. Universities publish many OA journals, nearly half of OA articles, tend not to charge APCs and when APCs are charged, the prices are very low on average.
Corpus linguistics is not just for linguists: considering the potential of computer-based corpus methods for library and information science research
(2018) Bowker, Lynne
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to generate awareness of and interest in the techniques used in computer-based corpus linguistics, focusing on their methodological implications for research in library and information science (LIS). Design/methodology/approach – This methodology paper provides an overview of computer-based corpus linguistics, describes the main techniques used in this field, assesses its strengths and weaknesses, and presents examples to illustrate the value of corpus linguistics to LIS research. Findings – Overall, corpus-based techniques are simple, yet powerful, and they support both quantitative and qualitative analyses. While corpus methods alone may not be sufficient for research in LIS, they can be used to complement and to help triangulate the findings of other methods. Corpus linguistics techniques also have the potential to be exploited more fully in LIS research that involves a higher degree of automation (e.g. recommender systems, knowledge discovery systems, and text mining). Practical implications – Numerous LIS researchers have drawn attention to the lack of diversity in research methods used in this field, and suggested that approaches permitting mixed methods research are needed. If LIS researchers learn about the potential of computer-based corpus methods, they can diversify their approaches. Originality/value – Over the past quarter century, corpus linguistics has established itself as one of the main methods used in the field of linguistics, but its potential has not yet been realized by researchers in LIS. Corpus linguistics tools are readily available and relatively straightforward to apply. By raising awareness about corpus linguistics, the author hopes to make these techniques available as additional tools in the LIS researcher’s methodological toolbox, thus broadening the range of methods applied in this field.
Embedding a records manager as a strategy for helping to positively influence an organization’s records management culture
(2017) Bowker, Lynne; Villamizar, César
Purpose – This paper aims to explore the benefits of embedding a records manager into a team of university administrators to help them address their information management needs. Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes an experience that was inspired by reports of successful experiences with embedded librarianship. The literature on records management culture and embedded librarianship is reviewed to identify best practices and criteria for success. These criteria are used to design and implement a pilot project where, rather than hiring a consultant, a records manager is embedded into a quality assurance team working at a large university in Canada. Findings – The project is a success in conventional terms (e.g. active files reduced; duplicates deleted; inactive files archived; naming conventions, version control and access rights applied); however, similar results could have been achieved using a consultant. More interesting are the added benefits achieved through embedding. Added benefits included identifying workflow inefficiencies, identifying terminological inconsistencies, iterative training opportunities and useful knowledge sharing outside the project’s scope. The argument is made that an embedded information professional is better able to appreciate the organizational culture, which in turn facilitates the establishment of trusted relationships and produces an overall added value for the entire team. Originality/value – There is very little, if any, current literature that explores the value of embedding a records manager into a team, rather than simply hiring a consultant to address information management needs. The outcome of this pilot project will benefit those who are seeking to develop a model for embedding an information professional into their organization to gain an added value.
Aligning accreditation and academic program reviews: a Canadian case study
(2017) Bowker, Lynne
Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the potential benefits and limitations associated with aligning accreditation and academic program reviews in post-secondary institutions, using a descriptive case study approach. Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes two Canadian graduate programs that are subject to both external professional accreditation and institutional cyclical reviews, as they underwent an aligned review. The process was developed as a collaborative effort between the academic units, the professional associations and the university’s graduate-level quality assurance office. For each program, a single self-study was developed, a single review panel was constituted, and a single site visit was conducted. The merits and challenges posed by the alignment process are discussed. Findings – Initial feedback from the academic units suggests that the alignment of accreditation and program reviews is perceived as reducing the burden on programs with regard to the time and effort invested by faculty, staff and other stakeholders, as well as in terms of financial expenses. Based on this feedback, along with input from reviewers and program evaluation committee members, 14 recommendations emerged for ways in which an aligned review process can be set up for success. Practical implications – The results suggest that aligned reviews are not only resource-efficient but also allow reviewers to provide more holistic feedback that faculty may be more willing to engage with for program enhancement. Originality/value – The present study contributes to the existing body of knowledge about conducting aligned reviews in response to external accreditation requirements or institutional needs. It summarizes the potential benefits and limitations and offers recommendations for potential best practices for carrying out aligned reviews for policymakers and practitioners.
Does a Predator Need Prey? Examining the Evolving Terminology of Predatory Publishing
(2021) Buitrago Ciro, Jairo; Bowker, Lynne
The term “predatory publisher” was introduced by Jeffrey Beall in 2010 as part of an ad hoc approach to name an emerging concept in the field of scholarly publishing. Ten years later, the concept is still evolving, and the scholarly community continues to question whether the term is appropriate or sufficient. Given that an understanding of this concept and term is a necessary precursor to developing scholarly publishing literacy skills, we examine the concept-term unit through a terminological lens in order to better comprehend how it has developed over the past decade.
Against the clock: Speed training in library and information science education
(2021) Bowker, Lynne
We may not always like the speed of today’s world, but we still need to prepare students for working in a fast-paced environment. In the library and information science (LIS) professions today, deadlines are becoming ever shorter, yet research into the effects of time pressure in LIS is scarce. This pilot project aims to develop and test a speed-training program to improve LIS students’ ability to work under time pressure. An experiment is conducted where students in the control group receive no speed training while students in the experimental group complete speed-training exercises. Students provide feedback through surveys and a focus group. The results suggest that speed training can help students learn to work more quickly and that students feel positively about speed training. Therefore, it may be worth including explicit speed-training exercises in LIS programs.
Towards a more meaningful involvement of librarians in academic program reviews
(2018) Bowker, Lynne
Purpose – Using a descriptive case study approach, this paper aims to validate academic librarians’ perceptions that they are marginalized by faculty during academic program reviews, and recommends ways for the two groups to collaborate more effectively to make program reviews more meaningful. Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes a case study at a Canadian university where the six types of documents produced as part of the program review process for ten graduate programs were analyzed using corpus analysis tools and techniques, such as keyword generation and key word in context analysis. For each program, documents were examined to determine the volume and nature of the discussion involving libraries in the self-study, library report annex, site visit itinerary, external reviewers’ report, academic program’s response and final assessment report. Findings – The empirical evidence from the corpus analysis validates the findings of previous perceptionbased studies and confirms that librarians currently have a minor role in program reviews. Best practices and gaps emerged, prompting five recommendations for ways in which academic librarians can play a more meaningful role in the program review process. Practical implications – The results suggest that programs are not currently putting their best foot forward during program reviews, but this could be improved by including librarians more fully in the program review process. Originality/value – The present study contributes to the existing body of knowledge about the role of academic librarians in the program review process by providing direct and empirical measures to triangulate previous perception-based investigations that rely on surveys and interviews. It summarizes limitations of the current institutional quality assurance process and the benefits to be gained by involving librarians more in the process. It offers recommendations for policymakers and practitioners with regard to potential best practices for facilitating librarian involvement in academic program reviews
Investigating the participation of business librarians in academic program reviews using corpus-based methods
(2018) Bowker, Lynne
Prior research into the role of business librarians in academic program reviews has relied on surveys and interviews, revealing that librarians perceive that they are marginalized in the review process. Using a collection of program review documentation produced for the reviews of nine graduate programs offered at a Canadian business school, this study employs corpus-based techniques to obtain direct measures of librarian involvement. The findings provide objective confirmation that business librarians are not well integrated into program reviews overall, and that their contribution to the reviews of professional programs is even more limited than their contribution to the reviews of research-oriented programs. Based on best practices and missed opportunities observed as part of this study, seven strategies are suggested for integrating business librarians more fully in the program review process for the benefit of all program stakeholders.
Exploring Faculty Perspectives on College-to-University Transfer in a Large Canadian University
(2021) Bowker, Lynne
Investigations into college-to-university transfers have focused largely on the experiences of students, staff, and college faculty, while relatively little attention has been paid to the perspective of university faculty. This article first reviews the literature, which presents the views that the other stakeholders attribute to university faculty. Next, results from a survey and follow-up interviews conducted with faculty at a large Canadian university are presented. While there is some overlap between the concerns presented indirectly in the literature and the concerns expressed directly in the survey and interviews, there are also areas of divergence. The article concludes by noting that university faculty do have opinions on transfer and that their voices are worth listening to, not least because doing so will allow universities to establish how best to direct their resources to more effectively support a culture of transfer.
Embedded Records Management: A Case Study Emphasizing the Importance of Community as a Key to Success
(2016) Bowker, Lynne; Villamizar, César
Embedded librarianship has become increasingly common; however, this concept has not been widely applied to other information professions. We first survey the literature on embedded librarianship as a model of service delivery with a view to identifying those criteria that are considered essential to its success. Next, we demonstrate how best practices in embedded librarianship can inspire and inform a similar practice in another sector of the information professions, namely records management. We present and evaluate a pilot project where a records manager was embedded within the quality assurance team in the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at the University of Ottawa. In particular, we consider how community-building efforts contributed to the success of this project.
The (In)visibility of Academic Librarians in the Cyclical Program Review Process: A Corpus-Based Study of Two Ontario Universities
(2019) Bowker, Lynne
The library is often referred to as the heart of a university, but numerous studies reveal that librarians perceive that they are sidelined in the academic program review process, even though library resources and services would seem to be important to program quality. Using a corpus-based approach, we investigate six documents associated with the program review process for 10 graduate programs at two Ontario universities. These more objective results confirm the perception-based findings of other studies and lead us to consider what is at the root of the problem: is it a gap between faculty and librarians or could it be a more general disengagement of faculty with quality assurance processes in higher education? We end with some recommendations for ways in which librarians can become more meaningfully involved in academic program review.
Open access article processing charges 2011 - 2021
(2021) Morrison, Heather; Borges, Luan; Zhao, Xuan; Kakou, Tanoh Laurent; Shanbhoug, Amit Nataraj
This study examines trends in open access article processing charges (APCs) from 2011 – 2021, building on a 2011 study by Solomon & Björk (2012). Two methods are employed, a modified replica and a status update of the 2011 journals. Data is drawn from multiple sources and datasets are available as open data (Morrison et al, 2021). Most journals do not charge APCs; this has not changed. The global average per-journal APC increased slightly, from 906 USD to 958 USD, while the per-article average increased from 904 USD to 1,626 USD, indicating that authors choose to publish in more expensive journals. Publisher size, type, impact metrics and subject affect charging tendencies, average APC and pricing trends. About half the journals from the 2011 sample are no longer listed in DOAJ in 2021, due to ceased publication or publisher de-listing. Conclusions include a caution about the potential of the APC model to increase costs beyond inflation, and a suggestion that support for the university sector, responsible for the majority of journals, nearly half the articles, with a tendency not to charge and very low average APCs, may be the most promising approach to achieve economically sustainable no-fee OA journal publishing
What counts in research? Dysfunction in knowledge creation and moving beyond
(2021) Morrison, Heather
This chapter explains and critiques traditional and emerging metrics-based approaches to evaluation of research and researchers. The author argues that we need to move beyond questions of how to measure the impact of research to critique the logical flaw in the underlying assumption that impact is necessarily good. For example, the Wakefield study that falsely equated vaccination with autism is one of the most impactful studies of all time, by any measure; highly cited both before and after retraction, and arguably responsible for the return of preventable illnesses like measles. The University of Ottawa's collective agreement section on evaluation of research is presented as a suitable non-metric based alternative. This chapter is part of a critical study on Global University Rankings.
How are academic libraries in Spanish-speaking Latin America responding to new models of scholarly communication and predatory publishing?
(2021) Buitrago Ciro, Jairo
The topic of predatory publishing and ways to combat it is garnering considerable attention in many parts of the developed world, where academic librarians are emerging as leaders in this regard. However, less is known about how this phenomenon is playing out in developing regions, including Spanish-speaking Latin America. This study presents the results of a survey of 104 academic librarians in this region, along with follow-up interviews with seven respondents. The findings reveal that scholarly publishing literacy in general, and predatory publishing in particular, currently has low visibility in this part of the world, although there is growing recognition of and increasing concern about the issue. Although there is some debate about whether scholarly publishing literacy should be the sole responsibility of the library, many participants agree that the library has a role to play. Moreover, while most of the librarians who participated perceive that they have a solid knowledge of open access, they are less confident in their understanding of predatory practices and are seeking to increase their skills and knowledge in this regard to better support researchers at their institutions. To address this shortcoming, academic librarians in the region have expressed an interest in receiving training and in participating in international collaborations with other libraries that have already developed resources or programming in this area.
Investigating academic library responses to predatory publishing in the United States, Canada and Spanish-speaking Latin America
(2020) Buitrago-Ciro, Jairo; Bowker, Lynne
Purpose This is a comparative investigation of how university libraries in the United States, Canada and Spanish-speaking Latin America are responding to predatory publishing. Design/methodology/approach The Times Higher Education World University Rankings was used to identify the top ten universities from each of the US and Canada, as well as the top 20 Spanish-language universities in Latin America. Each university library's website was scrutinized to discover whether the libraries employed scholarly communication librarians, whether they offered scholarly communication workshops, or whether they shared information about scholarly communication on their websites. This information was further examined to determine if it discussed predatory publishing specifically. Findings Most libraries in the US/Canada sample employ scholarly communication librarians and nearly half offer workshops on predatory publishing. No library in the Latin America sample employed a scholarly communication specialist and just one offered a workshop addressing predatory publishing. The websites of the libraries in the US and Canada addressed predatory publishing both indirectly and directly, with US libraries favoring the former approach and Canadian libraries tending towards the latter. Predatory publishing was rarely addressed directly by the libraries in the Latin America sample; however, all discussed self-archiving and/or Open Access. Research limitations/implications Brazilian universities were excluded owing to the researchers' language limitations. Data were collected between September 15 and 30, 2019, so it represents a snapshot of information available at that time. The study was limited to an analysis of library websites using a fixed set of keywords, and it did not investigate whether other campus units were involved or whether other methods of informing researchers about predatory publishing were being used. Originality/value The study reveals some best practices leading to recommendations to help academic libraries combat predatory publishing and improve scholarly publishing literacy among researchers.
Knowledge and equity: analysis of three models
(2020) Morrison, Heather; Rahman, Anis
The context of this paper is an analysis of three emerging models for developing a global knowledge commons. The concept of a ‘global knowledge commons’ builds on the vision of the original Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002) for the potential of combining academic tradition and the internet to remove various access barriers to the scholarly literature, thus laying the foundation for an unprecedented public good, uniting humanity in a common quest for knowledge. The global knowledge commons is a universal sharing of the knowledge of humankind, free for all to access (recognizing reasons for limiting sharing in some circumstances such as to protect individual privacy), and free for everyone qualified to contribute to. The three models are Plan S / cOAlition S, an EU-led initiative to transition all of scholarly publishing to an open access model on a short timeline; the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS), a recent initiative that builds on Ostrom's study of the commons; and PubMedCentral (PMC) International, building on the preservation and access to the medical research literature provided by the U.S. National Institutes of Health to support other national repositories of funded research and exchange of materials between regions. The research will involve analysis of official policy and background briefing documents on the three initiatives and relevant historical projects, such as the Research Council U.K.’s block grants for article processing charges, the EU-led OA2020 initiative, Europe PMC and the short-lived PMC-Canada. Theoretical analysis will draw on Ostrom’s work on the commons, theories of development, under-development, epistemic / knowledge inequity and the concepts of Chan and colleagues (2011) on the importance of moving beyond north-to-south access to knowledge (charity model) to include south-to-south and south-to-north (equity model). This model analysis contributes to build a comparative view of transcontinental efforts for a global knowledge commons building with shared values of open access, sharing and collaboration, in contrast to the growing trend of commodification of scholarly knowledge evident in both traditional subscriptions / purchase-based scholarly publishing and in commercial open access publishing. We anticipate that our findings will indicate that a digital world of inclusiveness and reciprocity is possible, but cannot be taken for granted, and policy support is crucial. Global communication and information policy have much to contribute towards the development of a sustainable global knowledge commons.
Open access & copyright: let's start the conversation
(2015) Morrison, Heather
This presentation challenges the common conflation by the open access community of open access and open licensing, in particular the CC-BY license. Examples are provided where downstream blanket re-use and commercial use rights are not compatible with the goals of scholarship and/or open access.
Peer review of Pubfair framework
(2019) Morrison, Heather
“Science” is only one type of knowledge. There are nine faculties at the University of Ottawa; only one is named “science”, and this is typical at a large university. I strongly recommend replacing “science”, “scientists” and “open science” with more inclusive terminology such as “open scholarship” or “open knowledge”, “scholar” or “researcher” in the title and throughout the document. The Pubfair framework is an excellent beginning for a needed profound transformation in how scholars work together and disseminate research. This is the kind of approach most likely to achieve significant savings based on current spend on scholarly publishing, and these savings will be needed to support innovation in scholarly production and dissemination. My recommendation is to proceed with an iterative approach and an initial focus on helping scholarly communities with unmet needs for new forms of review and publishing, such as scholars who create and share datasets or tools using artificial intelligence, digital humanists, and scholarly bloggers. The specific needs for community input whether through review or collaboration in the planning process will vary by discipline and type of product. The work of defining needs and identifying potential solutions should be led by the scholarly community in consultation with repository managers. This is a reversal of the proposed leadership / consultation approach in the framework document. Finally, while I recommend an immediate start to this approach, my advice is to see this as a long-term radical transformation that will likely take decades to complete.
Dialectic of open
(2019) Morrison, Heather
In contemporary Western society the word open is used as if the concept were essentially good. This is a logical fallacy; the only concept that is in essence good is the concept good itself. In this paper I will argue that this is a dangerous fallacy that opens the door to misdirection and co-optation of genuine advocates of the public good accidentally through misconception and deliberately by actors whose motives are far from open, that a critical dialectic approach is useful to unravel and counter such fallacies, and present a simple pedagogical technique that I have found to be effective to teach critical thinking to university students in this area. The province of Ontario under the Ford government describes itself as open for business. In this context, open means open for exploitation, and closure is protection for the environment and vulnerable people. This is one example of openwashing, taking advantage of the use of the term by large numbers of “open” advocates whose work is based on very different motives. Open access, according to the Budapest Open Access Initiative, is a potential unprecedented public good, a collective global sharing of the scholarly knowledge of humankind. A sizable portion of the open access movement is adamant that open access requires nothing less than all of the world’s scholars making their work not only free of charge, but free for downstream manipulation and re-use for commercial purposes. This frees up knowledge for creative new approaches to more rapidly advance our knowledge; it is also a new area for capitalist expansion and can be seen as selling out scholarship. Is this necessary, sufficient, or even desirable to achieve the vision of global sharing of open access? Open education can be seen as the next phase in the democratization of education, a new field for capitalist expansion, a tool for authoritarian control and/or a tool for further control of the next generation proletariat or precariat. Open government can facilitate an expansion of democracy, to further engage citizens in decision-making, a means of enhancing and improving government services, and/or another means of transitioning public services to the private sector that is typical of the (perhaps post) neoliberal era. Proactive open government can mean more transparent, accountable government; it can also mean open access to the documents and data that those in power choose to share. This paper will analyze the rhetoric of key documents from the open movements, evidence presented to support these beliefs, and explore whether these belief systems reflect myth based on misconception and/or misdirection by actors with ulterior motives using a theoretical lens drawn from the political economics, particularly Hegelian dialectics in the tradition of the Frankfurt School and contemporary Marxist analysis.
What counts in research? Dysfunction in knowledge creation & moving beyond
(2019) Morrison, Heather
This chapter begins with a brief history of scholarly journals and the origins of bibliometrics and an overview of how metrics feed into university rankings. Journal impact factor (IF), a measure of average citations to articles in a particular journal, was the sole universal standard for assessing quality of journals and articles until quite recently. IF has been widely critiqued; even Clarivate Analytics, the publisher of the Journal Citation Reports / IF, cautions against use of IF for research assessment. In the past few years there have been several major calls for change in research assessment: the 2012 San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), the 2015 Leiden Manifesto (translated into 18 languages) and the 2017 Science Europe New vision for meaningful research assessment. Meanwhile, due to rapid change in the underlying technology, practice is changing far more rapidly than most of us realize. IF has already largely been replaced by item-level citation data from Elsevier’s Scopus in university rankings. Altmetrics illustrating a wide range of uses including but moving beyond citation data, such as downloads and social media use are prominently displayed on publishers’ websites. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of how these metrics work at present, to move beyond technical critique (reliability and validity of metrics) to introduce major flaws in the logic behind metrics-based assessment of research, and to call for even more radical thought and change towards a more qualitative approach to assessment. The collective agreement of the University of Ottawa is presented as one model for change.

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