Event! Scholarship for the Public Good: Paths to Open Access Online, 2/9, 4 PM

open access logoScholarship for the Public Good: Paths to Open Access Online

Thursday, February 9, 2023
4:00pm – 5:00pm
Register

Open access scholarly literature—roughly, scholarly works that are online and free of charge for all—has developed over the past 20 years from wild idea to widespread reality. Open access journals, books, and repositories are now established parts of the scholarly ecosystem, and many consider near-universal open access to be inevitable.

But publishing itself is not cost-free, so how can open access be achieved? There are many possible paths, some now common, some more experimental. Which of these paths align with our values as researchers, and with the mission of the Graduate Center and CUNY as a whole? Which empower the research community? Which should we pursue, and which should we eschew?

The first event in the “Scholarship for the Public Good” series (learn more below) will explore various paths to open access. The event will feature three experts:

•    Peter Suber (Harvard University) will describe the institutional open access policies passed by the faculties of Harvard and many other universities.
•    Heather Paxson (MIT) will discuss the transition of society journal Cultural Anthropology from subscription-based to open access, and its ongoing quest to fund publication without article processing charges (APCs).
•    Leslie Chan (University of Toronto) will examine high-profit publishers’ problematic approaches to open access (high APCs, vertical integration, and more).

Scholarship for the Public Good Event Series
“We believe that knowledge is a public good.” This statement of institutional values is emblazoned on the Graduate Center website. But there are many ways to interpret the statement, and many ways to enact the belief. How can we move from words to action—or to greater action—in the context of our scholarship?
•    How can we ensure that the public, as a matter of course, has cost-free access to scholarly works authored by Graduate Center researchers?
•    What changes could we collectively bring about if we centered our values in decisions about where we publish, peer review, and serve in editorial roles?
•    How can the library and institution as a whole support these efforts and resist high-profit publishers’ exploitative practices?
•    How might we reimagine “impact” and rework systems of evaluation and reward?
•    How does considering these questions and contributing to these changes benefit our students, our colleagues, our fields, and the public?

Hosted by the CUNY Graduate Center’s Mina Rees Library and the Provost’s Office, the “Scholarship for the Public Good” event series will examine these questions and more, and explore possible ways that everyone in the Graduate Center community—faculty, students, staff, and administrators—can foster a positive, public-minded ecosystem of scholarship.

Open Access Week Events on Climate Justice, Oct. 24-30

Map of Open Access Week events by geographical location

Open for Climate Justice is the theme for International Open Access Week 2022 which starts next Monday and runs from October 24-30.

There are many events this year of strong interest to City Tech faculty including talks on specific platforms and software for open science and open data. Other events are discipline specific; for example, I noticed several devoted to chemistry.

Climate justice is an interdisciplinary topic and non-STEM faculty will find programs of interest that integrate humanities and social sciences perspectives, for example Pratt and Punctum: A Program on Open Access and Climate Justice — International Open Access Week.

Free or Fee: How Open Access Publishing Impacts Your Choices as an Author

Fee or Free FlyerCurious about open access? Want to better understand author fees or article processing charges for open access? This event from Mount Sinai’s Levy Library features international experts and leaders in open access and scholarly communications.

Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Time: 3:00pm – 5:30pm

THE OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHING MODEL HAS USHERED NUMEROUS PRESSING QUESTIONS FOR ACADEMICS:

  • WHY ARE SOME JOURNALS OFFERING OR REQUIRING A FEE TO PUBLISH AN ARTICLE?
  • HOW DOES PAYING TO PUBLISH IMPACT THE PRESTIGE AND ACCESSIBILITY OF YOUR WORK?
  • WHAT IS A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE AND HOW DOES IT IMPACT THE DISSEMINATION OF YOUR WORK?
  • LEARN HOW OPEN ACCESS IS CHANGING HOW YOU PUBLISH YOUR RESEARCH, WHAT REQUIREMENTS FUNDING AGENCIES IMPOSE ON RESEARCHERS, AND WHO OWNS THE COPYRIGHT OF PUBLISHED WORKS.

 

Scholarly Publishing Workshops for Fall 2021

Here is our schedule of workshops for fall 2021 related to scholarly publishing. These workshops introduce tools, resources, and important knowledge that help faculty make informed choices about their scholarship and how to maximize the impact of their work.

Leveraging the Literature Review
October 8, 12-1 PM
Learn how to find target journals for publishing your work; get a quick bird’s eye view of your topic; review basics of using the library for the literature review; effectively use Google Scholar, citation managers, and link resolvers; quickly assess a journal and avoid predatory journals.
Faculty Fridays: Registration via Faculty Commons TBA

Demystifying Academic Works (Express Workshop: 30 minutes) 
October 19, 4-4:30 PM
What is Academic Works and how does it benefit you as a scholar? You will learn more about how and why publishers allow you to contribute to Academic Works and the many benefits to sharing your scholarship openly to you, your students, and the public.
Registration

Zotero Basics
Nov. 9, 3-4 PM
Attendees will learn the capabilities of this powerful, free open-source reference management software program. The session covers the functionalities of the Zotero client, adding the Zotero plugin to your browser, and importing citations to generate a bibliography. To maximize our workshop time, please download Zotero from https://www.zotero.org and create your username and password in the Zotero client software by going to EDIT > PREFERENCES > >SYNC
Registration

Google Scholar Profile (Express Workshop: 30 minutes)
Dec. 6, 11:30 AM -12:00 PM
Google Scholar Profiles provide an easy way for you to showcase your individual scholarship and, more importantly, easily examine who is citing your work and find citation counts.
Registration

ORCID ID: Author Identifier for Grants, Publication, and Reviewing (Express Workshop: 30 minutes)
Dec. 8, 10-10:30 AM
ORCID IDs are author identifiers. They are especially helpful to authors with names that are more common but they have other benefits including speedier registration in systems for submitting articles, reviewing, and grant applications. Grantees who use their ORCID when applying for a grant help to assure that funders connect your funding program to your scholarship. ORCID also helps potential funders to efficiently review your publications.
Registration

Zotero Basics
Dec. 9, 4-5 PM
Attendees will learn the capabilities of this powerful, free open-source reference management software program. The session covers the functionalities of the Zotero client, adding the Zotero plugin to your browser, and importing citations to generate a bibliography. To maximize our workshop time, please download Zotero from https://www.zotero.org and create your username and password in the Zotero client software by going to EDIT > PREFERENCES > >SYNC
Registration

Our Scholarly Publishing Clinic is available on-demand and during our office hour at 12 PM every last Thursday of the month. We provide one-on-one consultations as well as workshops that fit your schedule.

Find more scholarly communications and publishing support from the library on our website.

Questions? Contact Prof. Monica Berger, Library, at mberger@citytech.cuny.edu