This is a preprint of a paper published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology volume 58, issue 8, pages 1148-161, June 2007. The well-documented limitations of journal impact factor rankings and perceptual ratings, the evolving scholarly communication system, the open access movement, and increasing globalization are some reasons that prompted an examination of journal value rather than just impact. Using a single specialized journal established in 1960, about education for the Information professions, this paper discusses the fall from citation grace of the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science (JELIS) in terms of impact factor and declining subscriptions. Journal evaluation studies in Library and Information Science based on subjective ratings are used to show the high rank of JELIS during the same period (1984-2004) and explain why impact factors and perceptual ratings either singly or jointly are inadequate measures for understanding the value of specialized, scholarly journals such as JELIS. This case study was also a search for bibliometric measures of journal value. Three measures, namely journal attraction power, author associativity, and journal consumption power, were selected; two of them were re-defined as journal measures of affinity (the proportion of foreign authors), associativity (the amount of collaboration), and calculated as objective indicators of journal value. Affinity and associativity for JELIS calculated for 1984, 1994, 2004 and consumption calculated for 1985 and 1994 show a holding pattern but also reveal interesting dimensions for future study. A multi-dimensional concept of value should be further investigated wherein costs, benefits, and measures for informative and scientific value are clearly distinguished for the development of a fuller model of journal value.

This, our second author international, cross-disciplinary study on open access had 1296 respondents. Its focus was on self-archiving. Almost half (49%) of the respondent population have self-archived at least one article during the last three years. Use of institutional repositories for this purpose has doubled and usage has increased by almost 60% for subject-based repositories. Self-archiving activity is greatest amongst those who publish the largest number of papers. There is still a substantial proportion of authors unaware of the possibility of providing open access to their work by self-archiving. Of the authors who have not yet self-archived any articles, 71% remain unaware of the option. With 49% of the author population having self-archived in some way, this means that 36% of the total author population (71% of the remaining 51%), has not yet been appraised of this way of providing open access. Authors have frequently expressed reluctance to self-archive because of the perceived time required and possible technical difficulties in carrying out this activity, yet findings here show that only 20% of authors found some degree of difficulty with the first act of depositing an article in a repository, and that this dropped to 9% for subsequent deposits. Another author worry is about infringing agreed copyright agreements with publishers, yet only 10% of authors currently know of the SHERPA/RoMEO list of publisher permissions policies with respect to self-archiving, where clear guidance as to what a publisher permits is provided. Where it is not known if permission is required, however, authors are not seeking it and are self-archiving without it. Communicating their results to peers remains the primary reason for scholars publishing their work; in other words, researchers publish to have an impact on their field. The vast majority of authors (81%) would willingly comply with a mandate from their employer or research funder to deposit copies of their articles in an institutional or subject-based repository. A further 13% would comply reluctantly; 5% would not comply with such a mandate.

Purpose: To review the current literature and discussion on institutional repository (IR) and open access (OA) issues, to provide examples from the Information Systems (IS) literature, and to propose the use of IS literature and further research to inform understanding of institutional repository implementations for library managers. Methodology/Approach: Recent literature is reviewed to provide the background to, and current issues in, the development of institutional repositories to support open access to refereed research output. Practical implications: Existing research is identified, as are areas for potential research. Brief examples from IS literature are provided which may provide strategies for libraries and other organisations to speed up their implementation of IR to provide access to, and management of, their own institutions refereed research output. Value of paper: The paper brings together recent opinion and research on IR and OA to provide librarians and other information managers with a review of the field, and proposes research on IR and OA building on existing IS as well as information management and librarianship research. Keywords: Open access, institutional repositories, libraries, information systems Article type: General Review

This is a presentation of the IFLA Section on Library and Information Science Journals, which is organized to bring together library and information science specialists to promote high standards for professional journals by encouraging the free flow of information and the exchange of ideas among editors, publishers, librarians and readers of library journals. This is a report of a pilot study on quality in LIS journals.

Some approaches to Open Access (OA) use authors' manuscript copies for the OA version, in the form accepted after peer review but prior to full editing. Advocates of such approaches are certain that these versions differ only trivially from the publishers' versions; many of those who oppose them are equally certain that there can be major discrepancies. In a pilot study, we have examined the actual differences in a small number of such article pairs in the social sciences and in biology. Using an operational classification of the extent of error, we have determined that neither pronouncement is likely to be correct. We found numerous small differences that affect readability between open access and publishers' versions. We also found a low frequency of potentially confusing errors, but sometimes it was the publisher's and sometimes the manuscript version that was more accurate. We found two cases where errors introduced by the publisher omit technical details that are necessary to evaluate the validity of the conclusions. However, we found no error that actually affected the validity of the data or results.

This is a presentation (43 slides) delivered at the Workshop on Electronic Publishing and Open Access: A developing Country Perspective, Bangalore, India (2-3 November 2006). Highlights with statistics the marginalisation of African knowledge, research and dissemination in South Africa (includes publishing and policy). In 2006-7 Eve Gray is undertaking an extended study of research publication policy and practice in South Africa as an International Policy Fellow of the Open Society Institute, Budapest.

This presentation was made at a LITA panel on Institutional Repositories at the Annual ALA meeting in Chicago, IL on June 27, 2005.

This presentation was made at a LITA panel on Institutional Repositories at the Annual ALA meeting in Chicago, IL on June 27, 2005.

The Open Access Bibliography for liberating scholarly literature with E-Prints and Access Journals presents over 1,300 selected English-language books, conference papers (including some digital video presentations), debates, editorials, e-prints, journal and magazine articles, news articles, technical reports, and other printed and electronic sources. These are useful in understanding the open access movement's efforts to provide free access to and unfettered use of scholarly literature. Although most sources have been published between 1999 and August 31, 2004, a limited number of key sources published prior to 1999 are also included. This is a publication of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the printed book can be ordered from ARL: http://www.arl.org/pubscat/pubs/openaccess/

In 2001, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shocked the education world by announcing that it would create a Web site whereby professors could make their course materials available to the electronic world for free. Five years later the OpenCourseWare (OCW) site contains materials for 1,400 courses with nearly 20 million visitors viewing MIT OCW content since October 2003. With other institutions beginning to follow MITâ s lead, has OCW started a revolution in education, or will it always be an â MIT thingâ ? My essay explores the history of the OCW program; discusses site content, architecture, technology, and copyright policies; overall worldwide impact; and considers future directions of OCW.