Publishing with Open Journal Systems (OJS): A Librarian’s Perspective

Abstract

The genesis of this paper is a workshop presentation on publishing with Open Journal Systems (OJS) that was delivered during the Kenya Library and Information Services Consortium Pre-Annual General Meeting held on May 30, 2019, at the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya. The article lays the context of online hosting of university sponsored journals in Kenya and gives a background of Online Journals Systems. The paper further describes potential roles that librarians can play in institutional journal publishing. The article concludes that librarians possess the requisite skills for participating in scholarly journal publishing and recommends that including publishing literacy skills in information literacy sessions provides an excellent opportunity to showcase librarians’ value in the scholarly journal publishing process.     

Opening the Book

Open access book publishers often face different challenges than their counterparts in journal publishing. In particular, the funding models and discovery solutions that work for journal articles may not always function as well for books. Charles Watkinson of the University of Michigan Press answered questions about recent activities in these two areas. University of Michigan Press has participated in Knowledge Unlatched, a platform that allows a large network of libraries to financially support the open access publication of books from several publishers. In order to enhance discovery of these titles and learn more about their use, the press has also begun participating in the new Open Access eBooks on JSTOR program.     

Cultural Anthropology and Open Access—Interview With Dominic Boyer,Cymene Howe,and Marcel LaFlamme

Abstract

In this installment of “Conversations,” Dominic Boyer, Cymene Howe, and Marcel LaFlamme, of the Cultural Anthropology editorial team, discuss the ins and outs of publishing a gold open access journal in the field of anthropology. Highlights of the discussion include Cultural Anthropology’s move to open access, the ethics of open access, the growth of international readership, ongoing publishing challenges in open access, and the role libraries can play with open access publishing.     

Seeing the Forest for Trees: Tools for Analyzing Faculty Research Output

Abstract

For academic libraries, because budgetary pressures are nearly universal, it is imperative to evaluate journal packages regularly. This article presents an overview of the data and methods that the NC State University Libraries traditionally uses to evaluate journal packages and presents additional methods to expand our evaluation of publishing and editorial activity. We describe methods for downloading and analyzing Web of Science citation data to identify the most common publishers for NC State affiliated authors as well as the journals in which NC State authors publish most frequently. This article also demonstrates a custom Python web scraping application to harvest NC State affiliated editor data from publishers’ websites. Finally, this article discusses how these data elements are combined to provide a more comprehensive evaluative strategy for our journal investments.     

An Interview with Mary Ann Liebert and Tom Mulak

Abstract

Ramune Kubilius interviewed Mary Ann Liebert, president and founder of the family-owned publishing company, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., and Tom Mulak, vice president of Liebert Online, in December 2002. In this interview, Liebert responds to questions about her motivations for founding a publishing company, what she feels makes it unique in the current publishing industry, and its past, present, and potential future directions in journal publishing. Liebert and Mulak expressed opinions on the company's e-journal strategies and the company's relationship with editors and institutional subscribers. Serials Review 2003; 29:137–143.     

Middle East and North African Information Resources: Western Libraries Navigating the Montage

The spotlight for this edition of “The Balance Point” is on publishing and collection development issues in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region of the world. While reflecting upon recent events in the Middle East and Europe, the column editor began to wonder what impact current issues have on publishing, collection development, scholarly communication, and discoverability of resources from the MENA region, as well as the impact these issues have on the collection development activities of Western academic research libraries. Blair Kuntz, the Near and Middle Eastern studies librarian at the University of Toronto Library, was asked to coauthor the column and to share his insights regarding the region with readers. The authors discuss the myriad issues and the mosaic of collection development issues for the MENA region.     

Looking at Journals from Both Sides

Abstract

The author, a professor in the field of communication, describes his contrasting experiences with publishing an open access society journal and advising a regional association in regards to turning over publication of its journal to a major commercial publishing firm. Using his experience of producing an open access journal as a foundation, he argues for the intrinsic importance of establishing credibility and exercising personal care in the production and maintenance of a journal. The author argues that current efforts by some societies to increase access to their journals through outsourcing to commercial publishers may be counterproductive to the fundamental goal of disseminating knowledge.     

The 5K Run Toolkit: A Quick,Painless, and Thoughtful Approach to Managing Print Journal Backruns

Abstract

Increasingly, academic libraries are choosing to discard or place in storage print journals that are now available online. The identification of these titles and related collection analysis activities are often time-intensive. The approach at the University of Saskatchewan Library was to develop an online toolkit that combined available data from disparate sources including the integrated library system, SFX link resolver, and OCLC's WorldCat and then present them in a collaborative open source environment. This paper demonstrates how the careful combination of existing data presented in a simple online format allowed subject specialists to make accurate print journal deselection decisions quickly and painlessly.     

The 5K Run Toolkit: A Quick,Painless, and Thoughtful Approach to Managing Print Journal Backruns

Increasingly, academic libraries are choosing to discard or place in storage print journals that are now available online. The identification of these titles and related collection analysis activities are often time-intensive. The approach at the University of Saskatchewan Library was to develop an online toolkit that combined available data from disparate sources including the integrated library system, SFX link resolver, and OCLC's WorldCat and then present them in a collaborative open source environment. This paper demonstrates how the careful combination of existing data presented in a simple online format allowed subject specialists to make accurate print journal deselection decisions quickly and painlessly.     

Electronic Journals: Cataloging and Management Practices in Academic Libraries

The growth and availability of electronic journals offer libraries the opportunity to provide end users with quick and easy access to more journals than ever before, thereby creating a complex new workload in academic libraries. Libraries have addressed the evolving challenges unique to electronic resources by creating new policies and workflows and dedicating staff to work on the processes, despite the lack of best practices. In the fall of 2009, a survey was distributed to ninety-five libraries at peer institutions to gather information about their policies and practices for cataloging and managing electronic journals in order to gauge the current status of electronic journal management among these peer institutions. This paper reports on the survey findings related to cataloging approach, sources for bibliographic records, methods for identifying problems, and the staff and staff hours dedicated to electronic journals.     

Looking at Journals from Both Sides

The author, a professor in the field of communication, describes his contrasting experiences with publishing an open access society journal and advising a regional association in regards to turning over publication of its journal to a major commercial publishing firm. Using his experience of producing an open access journal as a foundation, he argues for the intrinsic importance of establishing credibility and exercising personal care in the production and maintenance of a journal. The author argues that current efforts by some societies to increase access to their journals through outsourcing to commercial publishers may be counterproductive to the fundamental goal of disseminating knowledge.     

Using the Diffusion of Innovation Concept to Explain the Factors That Contribute to the Adoption Rate of E-journal Publishing

This paper reports on the factors that contribute to the adoption rate of e-journal publishing based upon responses from 82 Malaysian journal publishers. Drawing upon the theory of innovation diffusion, the study examines the role of awareness, three organization variables (publication size, age of the journal, and experience of editors), and attributes of e-journals (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability) as influences to the rate of e-journal publishing adoption. Findings show that only two attributes—complexity and trialability—emerge as significant contributors to e-journal adoption rates, and all three organization variables—journal's age, publication size, and editorial experience—are significant. Collectively, these five significant variables explained 57.8% of the variance in adoption rate. We discuss the results and implication of the findings with respect to the wider context of e-journal publishing.     

Serials from the Other Side: An Editorial Perspective on Current Trends in Scholarly Communication

The panel session for the 22nd North Carolina Serials Conference brought together perspectives from current and former journal editors about their careers and changes in the publishing industry. Moderated by Patricia Hudson, David Goldfield discussed his experience with the Journal of Urban History; Elaine Hubal talked about her experience with the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology; and Priscilla Wald discussed her experience as editor of American Literature. A question and answer session followed the presentation.