Why open access
Kansas State University is one of many colleges and universities grappling with the effects of an unsustainable scholarly communication model. Access to publicly-funded research is increasingly facilitated by for-profit corporations, which charge ever-increasing prices to the institutions creating the work.
Dubbed "The Serials Crisis" by the academic library community, this model has negatively impacted research and scholarly communication at K-State and around the world. Scholars, librarians, universities and advocacy organizations are responding to the need for open access to publicly-funded research and data. Open access is the free, immediate online access to research and scholarly information.
How you can help
Action from faculty and administrators will play a crucial role in the success of the open access movement. K-State administrators and faculty members can push to:
- Adopt open access policies in colleges and departments.
- Reward faculty for publishing open access through tenure and promotion.
- Use alternative metrics to assess published research.
- Question profit margins, push for open access and apply pressure to adopt sustainable pricing models.
- Publish in open access journals and submit scholarly work to the K-State Research Exchange.
Scholarly communications task force
The Scholarly Communications Task Force was formed in September 2019 by Provost Charles Taber, Faculty Senate President Tanya Gonzalez and Dean of Libraries Lori Goetsch to coordinate a campuswide response to education, advocacy and policy around new and emerging models of scholarly communication.
Highlights of the task force's findings include:
- A recommendation to adopt a university open access policy.
- An educational campaign about open access and scholarly communications.
- A call to continue to examine and monitor journal publishing practices.
- Support for author pay charges as a transitional means of supporting open access publishing.
Adopting an open access policy
A policy working group is developing the framework for an open access policy at K-State. Adopting an open access policy will demonstrate K-State’s commitment to open access.
More than 30 universities in the U.S. have adopted open access policies, including Harvard, MIT, the University of California, Stanford and other top research institutions. Similarly, more federal agencies are requiring that results of funded research projects be freely available to the public. Open access policies align with K-State's land-grant university mission to provide open access research and share the wealth of knowledge internationally.
To learn more about open access policies, contact the Center for Scholarly Publishing at cads@k-state.edu.