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The movement labeled “open access” publishing is here to stay. Now a decade old, this form of publishing initially confounded many authors, editors, and publishers. Yet, like all disruptive innovations, the open access movement has also provided opportunities for change within traditional publishing processes that have improved authors' experiences in many ways. Like any disruptive innovation, open access has its cheerleaders and detractors, with the average reader not clear about what has changed and why. Many authors wonder about the advantages and disadvantages of open access journals for both themselves and their institutions. As a dean, editor, and author myself, I am often asked questions about what “open access” and “gold access” mean; which route to disseminating one's scholarship is “right”; and which “counts more” (i. e. , for promotion), gets an article more exposure, and so on. These are all important questions. I will attempt to answer some of these questions, with the caveat that the processes and policies, practices, and opportunities in publishing, open access or more traditional subscriber-based forms, are changing continually. As an editor of a journal published by Elsevier, it is possible that some readers would question my objectivity about the subject. All I can say about that is that I value transparency, honesty, debate, and dialogue and will welcome (and print) any opinions or perspectives contrary to my own. What Does the Term “Open Access” Mean? The concept of open access refers to the availability of authors' works in digital formats that are available online. The intent of open access is to make the scholarly “product” or “work” available without charge to anyone who has access via the Internet. In addition, open access frees the work of any copyright or license restrictions (by the entity that is publishing the work) for public use. This means the work can be read, copied, downloaded, and printed free of charge. Who retains the copyright depends on the particular journal. Some open access journals allow the author to keep the copyright; others require transfer of the copyright. If the authors retain copyright, they will be asked to sign a license that permits the publisher to make the work available and open for access to others to read, download, and print. Today, many universities, or consortia of universities, ask that students deposit their work digitally in a repository. If part of the work, for instance a dissertation written using a format that includes two to three published and/or “publishable” papers, is deposited in the repository, then the student author, who holds the copyright, can still submit his/her work to be published in either an open access or traditional subscription-based publication. In the United States, the open access concept gained more widespread attention from researchers when, in 2008, the National Institutes of Health chose to make the research it funded more accessible to the public. In general, in most Westernized countries, the overwhelming majority of researchers had and have access to research conducted by colleagues via the traditional journals bought by and housed in their university libraries. However, the general public, students, and researchers in third world countries did not have access. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy (www. publications. nih. gov) requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal articles that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central. The policy requires that these articles are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication. Most publishers, like Elsevier, ensure that the referred papers funded by NIH are deposited in PubMed and do that for the author automatically. More recently, other key influencers of the open access movement have been the Wellcome Trust and Research Councils of the United Kingdom. These two funders of research require that authors maintain the copyright of their manuscript and that any publisher of that article has to obtain permission to be the original publisher of that work. When the article is published, it becomes available to the public to copy or distribute under the Creative Commons Attribution (www. creativecommons. org/licenses). Do Articles That Are in Open Access Journals Undergo Peer Review? There are many Web-based lists and directories that catalog scholarly open access journals of a variety of disciplines, such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (i. e. www. doaj. org). In fact, some of these journals are published by subscription-based publishers. For instance, several traditional publications, such as Cell Press, have an open access journal (i. e. , Cell Reports) that is published by Elsevier. Other open access journals are self-published or university based. These open access journals are reputable and use the same peer review practices of traditional subscription-based journals. However, there are also open access journals that are unscrupulous and only exist to collect fees for publishing an article. A list of these journals can be found at www. scholarlyoa. com. There is a great deal of variability in the quality of all journals, including those that are open access. Some require that submitted manuscripts undergo peer review; others use an editorial board to make the decision or even one editor to make the decision about publication. It is important that authors engage in due diligence of their own before submitting their paper to a journal. Why Is There a Charge to Publish a Manuscript in an Open Access Journal? Publishing a scholarly paper costs money. The costs include the cost of Web-based systems in which articles are submitted and managed by many individuals through the peer review and revision processes, scholarly editing, reviewer coordination, copy editing, distribution, subscription management, and so on. In subscription-based journals, those costs are supported by the subscribers (e. g. , individuals and libraries) and those who want to read or download or print a published paper for a fee. In open access journals, the costs are borne by the funders of the research (i. e. , as part of dissemination costs supported by a grant), the author's institution, or the author themselves. These costs can vary between 500 and 5, 000. Most subscription-based journals also now offer an open access option to any author whose paper is accepted, often referred to as hybrid journals. There is a charge for this option, which will ensure that the article is available for distribution in the online version of a journal (but not in the print issue) to any reader who wants to download, print, and/or copy the paper without concern for copyright infringement. This procedure is commonly referred to as “gold access. ” It does not necessarily ensure faster publication because currently many subscription-based journals make their author-approved galleys available as “in press” on the website and these are searchable. This means once a manuscript is accepted by the editor that it will be posted as “in press” and available to journal readers. Nursing Outlook is a hybrid journal, although to date, no authors have availed themselves of the option or chose to pay the 2, 500. 00 fee. Who will ultimately bear the cost of the fees for open access publication is still an open question. Much scholarship is produced by scholars whose research is not externally funded. Currently, refereed publications in high-impact journals remain the currency of universities for those seeking tenure. Faculty seeking tenure, who are often paid less than their peers in the “industry, ” expect the universities will continue to find ways to support their scholarship. In some universities, the libraries have set aside funding to help support these costs; however, with universities under financial pressure to reduce the cost of instruction and lower tuition costs, how long this will continue is not known. Ultimately, if the open access movement continues, universities will have to decide how they will assume the costs of author and editor support and perhaps even the “currency” (in terms of esteem and value of productivity) in refereed publications for promotion and tenure. The publishing industry is evolving rapidly and, with 28, 100 active scholarly peer-reviewed journals in mid-2012 collectively publishing about 1. 8 to 1. 9 million articles a year, that evolution will continue (Ware, M. , 19 of these are published in the English language. There are no open access nursing journals in the United States and a few in Canada, and strong interest is being expressed for open access journals in the United Kingdom. Clearly, with all this disruptive innovation in the publishing world, authors need to carefully consider their options, their intended audience, their available funds, the quality and efficiency (i. e. , time frame) for reviews, and the services available to support the meaningful dissemination of their work before choosing a journal in which to publish. Authors are clearly the most important constituency given, without their scholarly products, there would be nothing to disseminate, little to stimulate new thought, and little credible evidence on which to improve practices across the discipline. The movement labeled “open access” publishing is here to stay. Now a decade old, this form of publishing initially confounded many authors, editors, and publishers. Yet, like all disruptive innovations, the open access movement has also provided opportunities for change within traditional publishing processes that have improved authors' experiences in many ways. Like any disruptive innovation, open access has its cheerleaders and detractors, with the average reader not clear about what has changed and why. Many authors wonder about the advantages and disadvantages of open access journals for both themselves and their institutions. As a dean, editor, and author myself, I am often asked questions about what “open access” and “gold access” mean; which route to disseminating one's scholarship is “right”; and which “counts more” (i. e. , for promotion), gets an article more exposure, and so on. These are all important questions. I will attempt to answer some of these questions, with the caveat that the processes and policies, practices, and opportunities in publishing, open access or more traditional subscriber-based forms, are changing continually. As an editor of a journal published by Elsevier, it is possible that some readers would question my objectivity about the subject. All I can say about that is that I value transparency, honesty, debate, and dialogue and will welcome (and print) any opinions or perspectives contrary to my own. What Does the Term “Open Access” Mean? The concept of open access refers to the availability of authors' works in digital formats that are available online. The intent of open access is to make the scholarly “product” or “work” available without charge to anyone who has access via the Internet. In addition, open access frees the work of any copyright or license restrictions (by the entity that is publishing the work) for public use. This means the work can be read, copied, downloaded, and printed free of charge. Who retains the copyright depends on the particular journal. Some open access journals allow the author to keep the copyright; others require transfer of the copyright. If the authors retain copyright, they will be asked to sign a license that permits the publisher to make the work available and open for access to others to read, download, and print. Today, many universities, or consortia of universities, ask that students deposit their work digitally in a repository. If part of the work, for instance a dissertation written using a format that includes two to three published and/or “publishable” papers, is deposited in the repository, then the student author, who holds the copyright, can still submit his/her work to be published in either an open access or traditional subscription-based publication. In the United States, the open access concept gained more widespread attention from researchers when, in 2008, the National Institutes of Health chose to make the research it funded more accessible to the public. In general, in most Westernized countries, the overwhelming majority of researchers had and have access to research conducted by colleagues via the traditional journals bought by and housed in their university libraries. However, the general public, students, and researchers in third world countries did not have access. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy (www. publications. nih. gov) requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal articles that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central. The policy requires that these articles are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication. Most publishers, like Elsevier, ensure that the referred papers funded by NIH are deposited in PubMed and do that for the author automatically. More recently, other key influencers of the open access movement have been the Wellcome Trust and Research Councils of the United Kingdom. These two funders of research require that authors maintain the copyright of their manuscript and that any publisher of that article has to obtain permission to be the original publisher of that work. When the article is published, it becomes available to the public to copy or distribute under the Creative Commons Attribution (www. creativecommons. org/licenses). The concept of open access refers to the availability of authors' works in digital formats that are available online. The intent of open access is to make the scholarly “product” or “work” available without charge to anyone who has access via the Internet. In addition, open access frees the work of any copyright or license restrictions (by the entity that is publishing the work) for public use. This means the work can be read, copied, downloaded, and printed free of charge. Who retains the copyright depends on the particular journal. Some open access journals allow the author to keep the copyright; others require transfer of the copyright. If the authors retain copyright, they will be asked to sign a license that permits the publisher to make the work available and open for access to others to read, download, and print. Today, many universities, or consortia of universities, ask that students deposit their work digitally in a repository. If part of the work, for instance a dissertation written using a format that includes two to three published and/or “publishable” papers, is deposited in the repository, then the student author, who holds the copyright, can still submit his/her work to be published in either an open access or traditional subscription-based publication. In the United States, the open access concept gained more widespread attention from researchers when, in 2008, the National Institutes of Health chose to make the research it funded more accessible to the public. In general, in most Westernized countries, the overwhelming majority of researchers had and have access to research conducted by colleagues via the traditional journals bought by and housed in their university libraries. However, the general public, students, and researchers in third world countries did not have access. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy (www. publications. nih. gov) requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal articles that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central. The policy requires that these articles are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication. Most publishers, like Elsevier, ensure that the referred papers funded by NIH are deposited in PubMed and do that for the author automatically. More recently, other key influencers of the open access movement have been the Wellcome Trust and Research Councils of the United Kingdom. These two funders of research require that authors maintain the copyright of their manuscript and that any publisher of that article has to obtain permission to be the original publisher of that work. When the article is published, it becomes available to the public to copy or distribute under the Creative Commons Attribution (www. creativecommons. org/licenses). Do Articles That Are in Open Access Journals Undergo Peer Review? There are many Web-based lists and directories that catalog scholarly open access journals of a variety of disciplines, such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (i. e. www. doaj. org). In fact, some of these journals are published by subscription-based publishers. For instance, several traditional publications, such as Cell Press, have an open access journal (i. e. , Cell Reports) that is published by Elsevier. Other open access journals are self-published or university based. These open access journals are reputable and use the same peer review practices of traditional subscription-based journals. However, there are also open access journals that are unscrupulous and only exist to collect fees for publishing an article. A list of these journals can be found at www. scholarlyoa. com. There is a great deal of variability in the quality of all journals, including those that are open access. Some require that submitted manuscripts undergo peer review; others use an editorial board to make the decision or even one editor to make the decision about publication. It is important that authors engage in due diligence of their own before submitting their paper to a journal. There are many Web-based lists and directories that catalog scholarly open access journals of a variety of disciplines, such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (i. e. www. doaj. org). In fact, some of these journals are published by subscription-based publishers. For instance, several traditional publications, such as Cell Press, have an open access journal (i. e. , Cell Reports) that is published by Elsevier. Other open access journals are self-published or university based. These open access journals are reputable and use the same peer review practices of traditional subscription-based journals. However, there are also open access journals that are unscrupulous and only exist to collect fees for publishing an article. A list of these journals can be found at www. scholarlyoa. com. There is a great deal of variability in the quality of all journals, including those that are open access. Some require that submitted manuscripts undergo peer review; others use an editorial board to make the decision or even one editor to make the decision about publication. It is important that authors engage in due diligence of their own before submitting their paper to a journal. Why Is There a Charge to Publish a Manuscript in an Open Access Journal? Publishing a scholarly paper costs money. The costs include the cost of Web-based systems in which articles are submitted and managed by many individuals through the peer review and revision processes, scholarly editing, reviewer coordination, copy editing, distribution, subscription management, and so on. In subscription-based journals, those costs are supported by the subscribers (e. g. , individuals and libraries) and those who want to read or download or print a published paper for a fee. In open access journals, the costs are borne by the funders of the research (i. e. , as part of dissemination costs supported by a grant), the author's institution, or the author themselves. These costs can vary between 500 and 5, 000. Most subscription-based journals also now offer an open access option to any author whose paper is accepted, often referred to as hybrid journals. There is a charge for this option, which will ensure that the article is available for distribution in the online version of a journal (but not in the print issue) to any reader who wants to download, print, and/or copy the paper without concern for copyright infringement. This procedure is commonly referred to as “gold access. ” It does not necessarily ensure faster publication because currently many subscription-based journals make their author-approved galleys available as “in press” on the website and these are searchable. This means once a manuscript is accepted by the editor that it will be posted as “in press” and available to journal readers. Nursing Outlook is a hybrid journal, although to date, no authors have availed themselves of the option or chose to pay the 2, 500. 00 fee. Who will ultimately bear the cost of the fees for open access publication is still an open question. Much scholarship is produced by scholars whose research is not externally funded. Currently, refereed publications in high-impact journals remain the currency of universities for those seeking tenure. Faculty seeking tenure, who are often paid less than their peers in the “industry, ” expect the universities will continue to find ways to support their scholarship. In some universities, the libraries have set aside funding to help support these costs; however, with universities under financial pressure to reduce the cost of instruction and lower tuition costs, how long this will continue is not known. Ultimately, if the open access movement continues, universities will have to decide how they will assume the costs of author and editor support and perhaps even the “currency” (in terms of esteem and value of productivity) in refereed publications for promotion and tenure. The publishing industry is evolving rapidly and, with 28, 100 active scholarly peer-reviewed journals in mid-2012 collectively publishing about 1. 8 to 1. 9 million articles a year, that evolution will continue (Ware, M. , 19 of these are published in the English language. There are no open access nursing journals in the United States and a few in Canada, and strong interest is being expressed for open access journals in the United Kingdom. Clearly, with all this disruptive innovation in the publishing world, authors need to carefully consider their options, their intended audience, their available funds, the quality and efficiency (i. e. , time frame) for reviews, and the services available to support the meaningful dissemination of their work before choosing a journal in which to publish. Authors are clearly the most important constituency given, without their scholarly products, there would be nothing to disseminate, little to stimulate new thought, and little credible evidence on which to improve practices across the discipline. Publishing a scholarly paper costs money. The costs include the cost of Web-based systems in which articles are submitted and managed by many individuals through the peer review and revision processes, scholarly editing, reviewer coordination, copy editing, distribution, subscription management, and so on. In subscription-based journals, those costs are supported by the subscribers (e. g. , individuals and libraries) and those who want to read or download or print a published paper for a fee. In open access journals, the costs are borne by the funders of the research (i. e. , as part of dissemination costs supported by a grant), the author's institution, or the author themselves. These costs can vary between 500 and 5, 000. Most subscription-based journals also now offer an open access option to any author whose paper is accepted, often referred to as hybrid journals. There is a charge for this option, which will ensure that the article is available for distribution in the online version of a journal (but not in the print issue) to any reader who wants to download, print, and/or copy the paper without concern for copyright infringement. This procedure is commonly referred to as “gold access. ” It does not necessarily ensure faster publication because currently many subscription-based journals make their author-approved galleys available as “in press” on the website and these are searchable. This means once a manuscript is accepted by the editor that it will be posted as “in press” and available to journal readers. Nursing Outlook is a hybrid journal, although to date, no authors have availed themselves of the option or chose to pay the 2, 500. 00 fee. Who will ultimately bear the cost of the fees for open access publication is still an open question. Much scholarship is produced by scholars whose research is not externally funded. Currently, refereed publications in high-impact journals remain the currency of universities for those seeking tenure. Faculty seeking tenure, who are often paid less than their peers in the “industry, ” expect the universities will continue to find ways to support their scholarship. In some universities, the libraries have set aside funding to help support these costs; however, with universities under financial pressure to reduce the cost of instruction and lower tuition costs, how long this will continue is not known. Ultimately, if the open access movement continues, universities will have to decide how they will assume the costs of author and editor support and perhaps even the “currency” (in terms of esteem and value of productivity) in refereed publications for promotion and tenure. The publishing industry is evolving rapidly and, with 28, 100 active scholarly peer-reviewed journals in mid-2012 collectively publishing about 1. 8 to 1. 9 million articles a year, that evolution will continue (Ware, M. , 19 of these are published in the English language. There are no open access nursing journals in the United States and a few in Canada, and strong interest is being expressed for open access journals in the United Kingdom. Clearly, with all this disruptive innovation in the publishing world, authors need to carefully consider their options, their intended audience, their available funds, the quality and efficiency (i. e. , time frame) for reviews, and the services available to support the meaningful dissemination of their work before choosing a journal in which to publish. Authors are clearly the most important constituency given, without their scholarly products, there would be nothing to disseminate, little to stimulate new thought, and little credible evidence on which to improve practices across the discipline. Author Description Marion E. Broome is the Editor-in-chief of Nursing Outlook.
Marion E. Broome (Wed,) studied this question.