Hi Marty: 

It's a really good question. I think there are things that UC libraries can do (or continue to do). One thing is to pursue a variety of pathways to support OA, as we've been talking about for the last several years. So, making sure we're not putting all our eggs into the transformative agreement basket. We need to ensure support for a diversity of other models that can benefit smaller publishers, societies, etc., as you say. Such as putting capacity into collective funding efforts like the journals wishing to flip to diamond through mechanisms like the Open Access Community Investment Program, subscribe to open initiatives and things like Michigan's Fund to Mission for OA books, eScholarship journal publishing, and other infrastructure support which can help some of the smaller publishers get a foothold in the OA ecosystem. 

Another thing I hope we can do as UC library workers is to help with messaging/communication about options for our authors. I think a lot of the big commercial publishers are really controlling the narrative around what they say open access means today, and authors are basically hearing that it means "you pay us to publish your article open access; here's your APC bill (or here's the bill for your university)". But of course we have the UC Open Access Policy, and should continue to hold that up as a powerful policy mechanism to support green OA.   

And then there are things that are probably outside of our wheelhouse that the academic enterprise needs to grapple with, like promotion/tenure reform and moving away from those publishing proxies used to indicate impact. If all the biggest, most prestigious commercial publishers are the ones that can move on getting transformative agreements with big universities like ours, then it'll just perpetuate the problem because the authors (as we're hearing) will continue to be focusing their gaze on those for publishing. Sorry, I know I'm not saying anything new there!

I'd be interested to hear what others think too. 
tim

On Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 6:23 AM Brennan, Martin J. <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Tim,

 

Thanks for this.

 

That kicker has me thinking – perhaps this whole current landscape, with APC coverage available through major & mostly commercial journals’ subscription packages, is leading to an author’s propensity to pick those journals over society journals and smaller publishers, further diminishing their ability to draw the good abstracts from authors.  I doubt I ‘m the first to formulate this problem, but I wonder if there is any effort to combat this, to keep it from driving publishing choices over the coming years?  I’d hate to think our system will accelerate this divide with our efforts.

 

Cheers,

Marty

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Martin J. Brennan, MLS

Scholarly Communication Education Librarian

Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA

Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575

Email: [log in to unmask]

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From: Scholarly Communications CKG <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Timothy Vollmer
Sent: Wednesday, June 7, 2023 8:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SCCKG] [article] Transformative agreements and their practical impact: a librarian perspective

 

 

FYI, it's related to our occasional discussion on impacts of transformative agreements on library workers on the ground. It seems that—unlike our situation at UC—the Swedish librarians have a fairly hands-on role in verifying authors and approving articles to be covered by their transformative agreements. There is some overlap in tasks, particularly around author education and helping answer questions about TAs. 

 

The article also discusses ongoing challenges we may see here at UC (at least a bit): "We suspect that researchers tend to choose a corresponding author who is affiliated to a university where the APC is prepaid" (I assume meaning an institution which provides APC coverage under a TA). 

 

And the real (disturbing?) kicker: "We have noticed a shift in researchers' questions from 'which journal is the best for my article to get published in' to 'where could I publish my article without having to pay an APC'?"

 

Tim


 

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Timothy Vollmer

Scholarly Communication & Copyright Librarian

University of California, Berkeley

Doe Library, 189 Annex

Berkeley, CA 94720

Pronouns: he/him



--
Timothy Vollmer
Scholarly Communication & Copyright Librarian
University of California, Berkeley
Doe Library, 189 Annex
Berkeley, CA 94720
Pronouns: he/him