How to Find Open Access Business Journals

by Lorraine Heffernan

Did you know that the library has a database that enables you to find open access business journals? Cabells Directory Online allows you to filter for a discipline, set the level of importance of the journal and filter for the type of open access you are looking for. Here’s the menu for filtering:

Here’s the dropdown menu for open access:

Here’s a list of top marketing journals available after an embargo period:

 

Linking Users to Open Access Articles

by Matt Sylvain

Have you given much thought to how libraries connect users with articles? If not, that’s okay. That’s what you have librarians for, and we think a lot about how to better connect our users with content. We recently added a new tool to help you locate open access articles.

Online library access is typically determined at the journal level. If the library has a subscription to a journal, then library users will be given access to the full text articles covered by that subscription. If the library doesn’t subscribe, then users are directed to interlibrary loan (ILL) through which they can request articles from other libraries for free. However, this access model falls short when you consider the recent increase in subscription publications that offer authors the ability to make their articles available open access (OA) — often for a cost. Libraries need an efficient way to connect their users with OA articles regardless of a library’s subscription status. After all, if the author paid to make an article OA, then librarians want to eliminate unnecessary obstacles to access. We don’t want you to have to submit an ILL request for something you can read immediately!

This summer, we implemented a tool called LibKey Link in our EBSCOhost and PubMed databases (ProQuest integration is forthcoming). LibKey Link identifies availability at the article level as opposed to the traditional method of determining access based on journal subscriptions. Why is this important? It enables direct linking to open access articles in journals we don’t subscribe to. There is no change to the user interface — so you need to pay close attention to notice the difference. LibKey also favors the OA version of record, only selecting the OA non-version of record if it’s the only option aside from ILL. You can read more about LibKey’s “linking waterfall” on the vendor’s website.

Perhaps the best way to understand what’s going on is to run a search. Open CINAHL and search for diabetes mellitus. You’ll notice the search results look exactly as they did before. However, when you click on “Find a Copy @ UMassD Libraries” you will be directed to the open access full text instead of being sent to Primo, the online library catalog. Besides decreasing the number of clicks needed to access the full text, LibKey is also likely to decrease the number of ILL requests for OA articles. In cases when the article isn’t available through Third Iron, users will be directed to Primo just as they have been in the past.

Image by Libby Levi for opensource.com, license CC BY-SA 2.

Celebrate Open Access Week with a Screening of “Paywall: The Business of Open Scholarship”

In celebration of Open Access Week, the Scholarly Communications Committee is screening “Paywall: The Business of Open Scholarship” at the library. The documentary “questions the rationale behind the $25.2 billion a year that flows into for-profit academic publishers, examines the 35-40% profit margin associated with the top academic publisher Elsevier, and looks at how that profit margin is often greater than some of the most profitable tech companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google.”

When: Friday, October 26 2018, 11:30AM-1:00PM
Where: Library 314

Anyone interested in open access publishing is welcome! Bring lunch and questions or ideas about the future of academic publishing.

For more information about the film, visit https://paywallthemovie.com/paywall, where, in true open access form, it is available to watch in full if you cannot make it to the screening.

For more information about Open Access Week and events happening all around the world, visit http://www.openaccessweek.org/events

We hope to see you there!