The information on this page is pending review and may be out of date. Please visit our new ScholarWorks information page.
- What is Open Access (OA)?
- It is a model of publishing that removes pricing barriers to all potential users and readers of published scholarship. There are currently two types of Open Access: Gold OA, which is a direct-to-open-publication model via journals that have the mission of Open Access; and Green OA, which is the archiving of drafts and early versions of scholarship previously published in regular journals. CSUN ScholarWorks is a Green OA repository.
- Who participates in Open Access (OA)?
- Currently 350+ mandates exist across the world ranging from entire grant-funding organizations to University campuses, to individual campus departments and libraries, to type-specific mandates (i.e. thesis collections). The major grant funding organizations include the NEH and the NIH in the United States. Harvard, Princeton and UC universities are notable pioneers in OA. CSUN, of course, participates in OA with its own Electronic Theses and Dissertations project.
- What is the benefit of Open Access (OA)?
- It is an antidote to the rising costs of journals and subscription databases. It is also an antidote to the dysfunction in academic publishing in general, wherein authors are often pressured to relinquish the copyrights to their own work. Scholarship created at and subsidized by universities is then sold back to these very same universities at exorbitant prices. By aligning with the open access movement, the library can restore permanent access to university-created and university-related scholarship as well as begin the long process of reducing publisher-related costs.
- How does CSUN and the University Library participate in the Open Access Movement?
- The University Library provides ScholarWorks, which is a Green Open Access type of institutional repository. We provide a space for faculty to archive their published work in an open-access digital preservation platform. As part of the Scholar Spotlight program, we contact publishers to seek permission for uploading published articles. We also solicit pre-print and post-print drafts from CSUN faculty of published scholarship to include in our repository.
- What is ScholarWorks?
- ScholarWorks is an open access institutional repository. It currently showcases the work of CSUN’s faculty and students. We are showcasing student work such as theses and dissertations; we are also showcasing faculty publications, including journal articles, presentations, book chapters and books. See an example.
- What is Scholar Spotlight & how can I participate?
- Scholar Spotlight is our voluntary "Green Open Access" project. We essentially gather citations from faculty publications, contact publishers on faculty behalf for permission, and upload digital copies of this work into ScholarWorks. Access is free and available across the open web.
- Who participates in Scholar Spotlight?
- We currently have over 100+ faculty members participating in our Scholar Spotlight program. Here are some of the early adopters and pioneering participants in our program: Steve Oppenheimer (Biology), Paul Wilson (Biology), Library Dean Mark Stover, Scott Kleinman(English), Ron Davidson (Geography), Barbara Gross (Marketing), Victor Shaw (Sociology).