Open Access Publication

Prof. Leslie Chan (UofT Scarborough), supervisor for the New Media Studies program at the University of Toronto at Scarborough, publishes an article 'Open Access: Promises and Challenges of Scholarship in the Digital Age' in the latest issue of Academic Matters.

In this article, Leslie discusses the background of OA, its implications for universities, academics and libraries, and what actions to take to strengthen OA initiatives. The article also contains practical suggestions for scholars such as the following:

"The Directory of Open Access Repositories lists over 1,300 repositories worldwide, including 44 in Canada, and the number grows at the rate of about 1 new repository a day.[16] Self-archiving is possible because over 60 per cent of traditional publishers already allow authors to post copies of the peer-reviewed final version of their papers to institutional repositories or on their personal web sites[17] If the self-archiving right is not explicit, authors can request permission to do so. However, it is better to know your rights before you submit your paper. The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) recently published an advisory[18] as well as an author addendum[19] that can be used as part of an agreement with publishers to ensure the right to self-archive. "

For scholars who are interested in pursuing OA, Leslie suggested the 'Green Road' (author self-archiving) and the 'Golden Road' (articles published in OA journals).

UofT has set up the T-Space to be used as a self-archiving repository that "showcases and preserves the scholarly work of UofT faculty".

If you need more information about OA resources, use the two online directories to get more inforamtion: the Directory of Open Access Journals, and the Directory of Open Access Repositories. Besides, the Unversity of Cambridge Library compiles an online inforamtion guide for Open Access publishing, which contains discussion of related issues and other useful resources.