Library News for the Faculty

Scholarly Communication Update: Postprint Repositories

This issue of Library News for the Faculty marks the launch of a new column on scholarly communication. Transforming scholarly communication is essential to ensure the free flow of scholarly information now and in the future.

This issue requires urgent attention because a number of forces in scholarly publishing threaten the dissemination of and access to research and scholarship. High and escalating prices are forcing libraries to limit monograph purchases and to cancel journal subscriptions, which particularly affect scholars' access to new and specialized materials. Many journals require authors to assign copyright for published works to the publisher, which limits authors' ability to share their work in other forms and through other outlets. Academic promotion and tenure review committees continue to give precedence to the traditional and most prestigious journals, which are often the most highly priced, and undervalue alternative models of peer-reviewed journals.

The UC Office of the President established an Office of Scholarly Communication (OSC) to promote and encourage universitywide planning and action. Earlier this year the OSC issued a report on the feasibility of postprint repository services, which are one specific approach to addressing the larger issue of scholarly communication, within the UC context.

Postprint repositories are an attractive option because they charge no fees to authors or users. And publishers of many scholarly journals are willing to negotiate terms of their copyright agreements to allow publication in such repositories, ensuring ongoing access to audiences beyond those of the original article.

The OSC's report grew out of a study that began in August 2004 with the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The study was designed to establish baseline data about the number and proportion of UC faculty articles that could be made available for simultaneous distribution in an open-access postprint repository (i.e., those published in journals whose copyright agreements allow this) and about faculty attitudes toward managing their own copyright as a means of enabling broader access.

Results indicate that UC faculty contribute heavily to scholarly journal literature and that many make use of postprints on personal and departmental Web sites. In addition, it indicated that faculty are concerned about copyright and implications that its ownership has on the economics of and access to published research.

A number of recommendations have come out of the report, including supporting the continued development of the UC eScholarship Repository and the university's framework for managing copyright. The complete report is available online.

Faculty are invited to attend the UCLA Library's November 18 symposium on managing their intellectual property to discuss postprint repositories and other strategies.

If you have any questions or comments on this issue, contact Cindy Shelton, associate university librarian for collection management and scholarly communication, by telephone at extension 51201 or by email.

Additional information on this and other scholarly communication issues is available on the Web site.