Square peg solutions - A case study of open access opportunity

Abstract

Universities and research organisations require academics to report their published research, noting the attention and impact it has had as a sign of quality. These reporting systems are designed to align and make use of the tools provided by the citation databases.

Providing library services for a small but diverse group of academics who don’t produce research outputs aligned with these databases creates the square peg/round hole scenario and highlights the challenges, across the library sector, of service delivery for minority communities versus financial expediency.

This case study is an example of innovation in publishing. It describes the leveraging of an opportunity to promote the Open Access publication of research produced by academics from the School of Architecture and Planning, (Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries).

The opportunity arose with a question (driven by Faculty goals to meet University reporting requirements): “How do I get a DOI?” A Digital Object Identifier provides a persistent link to a digital item aiding its discoverability and tracking. This question provided scope to utilise the University’s Open Access publishing platform “figshare for Institutions.” Publication in figshare would achieve several things to help align their research with University policies surrounding research outreach and reporting: • Minting a doi for the item • Creative Commons Licensing • Statistics (views/downloads/citations)

The item was a book containing essays from a series of lectures held at a local Gallery. The Gallery was expecting to publish the book, but the research had been funded directly by the Faculty.Consequently, a hybrid approach to publishing was proposed and after discussions with the gallery, the decision was finalised to publish the digital version on figshare while the Gallery published the print.