By Andrew Wesolek
Head of Digital Scholarship
Often times, in our rush to publication, we view copyright transfer agreements as simply an administrative hurdle to overcome. We sign these agreements, transferring many, if not all of our rights to our scholarly articles to our publisher. However, a mounting body of research suggests that making our work Open Access —freely available online without subscription restrictions— in any form, increases its impact. With the launch of TigerPrints, Clemson’s institutional repository, members of the university community will now have the infrastructure necessary to openly disseminate their scholarly articles.
As Clemson’s new Head of Digital Scholarship, one of my essential roles is to develop and manage TigerPrints. My previous position as scholarly communication librarian at Utah State University has convinced me of the benefits of the open dissemination of research through an institutional repository. The DigitalCommons@USU, Utah State’s institutional repository, houses more than 38,000 records that have been downloaded more than two million times. Nearly three quarters of these downloads originated from researchers finding an individual article in the repository through Google, Google Scholar, or another search engine. With 30 percent of researchers beginning their research on Google, and 70 percent using Google at some point in their research, the repository is an excellent tool to expand the audience of your research.
A key component in this is securing your rights to deposit a version of your scholarly work in the institutional repository. This can be easier than it sounds. Chances are, your publisher already allows to you to deposit your work in TigerPrints, but if not, I am available to assist in securing these rights. Please don’t hesitate to contact me by email or by phone at 656-0317.
For more information on author’s rights and Open Access, please join us for Clemson Libraries’ Open Access Week events:
Monday, Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. (Library Room 309)
OA: Redefining Impact. Webcast sponsored by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition and the World Bank “panelists will discuss Article Level Metrics and changing the way scholarly communication is measured.” More info here.
Wednesday, Oct. 23 at Noon (G 022 Lehotsky)
“Expanding access and increasing impact: How to retain your rights to your research and why to deposit it in TigerPrints.” Head of Digital Scholarship, Andrew Wesolek will discuss the changing scholarly communication environment, open access, author’s rights, and the benefits of sharing one’s scholarship through an open access institutional repository such as TigerPrints.
Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. (ASC 118)
Interactive Chat with Peter Suber. Sponsored by ASERL:
Please join us for an interactive discussion with Peter Suber, Director of the Harvard Office of Scholarly Communications. This will be an interactive interview and discussion with Peter instead of an online lecture.
