Open Access Publishing with PKPs Open Journal System

Open Access Publishing with PKP's Open Journal System
 Trying the Gold Road on a Shoestring Budget Nancy R. John Digital Publishing Librarian University of Illinois at Chicago 
 PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference Vancouver, BC July 2007

Brief Description of the University of Illinois at Chicago Library Digital Publishing Program Objectives: • Showcase the work of the UIC faculty • Encourage development of open journals • Inform and educate about copyright • Affirm the role of the library as the leader in these areas

Three programs • Journal publishing: http: //journals. uic. edu • Digital repository: http: //indigo. lib. uic. edu • Copyright information: http: //copyright. uic. edu

Journals @ UIC • UIC Library’s long history • Outgrowth of a 2005 program on Scholarly Communication – Faculty discussed issues with publishing: • • • Quality Quantity P&T concerns Academic Freedom Need for campus support to do the work of editing, archiving etc. • Search for software to go beyond the simple ‘PDFs on a Web page’

First partner: Behavior and Social Issues • Issues needing support • Forming a partnership • The work – Setting up BSI – A plan for current issues – A plan for back issues • Full-text issues • Print only issues

Second partner: First Monday • The work – Setting up FM - new policies – A plan for current issues – A plan for back issues • Revising HTML • Creating PDFs

Issues needing support • • • Management of submissions Peer review Open Archives access and LOCKSS xml for preservation Improved reader tools Better searching Format additions (PDF added to HTML) Improved metadata Publication/issue planning Improved communication with editors, authors Automation of labor intensive manual routines

Attracting new partners • Third partner: Electronic Green Journal • Fourth partner: International Journal of Internet Research Ethics • Fifth partner: Consumer Project on Technology A 2 K - Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) • Sixth partner: 4 journals in discussion • Testbed set up for local library school

Mistakes made? • The ease of setting up the software and the limited staffing led to inadequate testing of software during migrations • Communication became more complex when the Computer Center got involved and it has taken considerable work to make that stronger and more reliable • Running OJS in a complex environment has made planning much more difficult

Lessons learned • Timing is everything • Effort is more in some places and less in others than you might expect • Collaboration is key to the success • Expectations need to clarified, and re-calcified • Outcomes are often unexpected and nearly always pleasant

A big Thank You! The support from the OJS team and the people using the OJS Forums has been essential to our successful implementation