Thinking About Being Open

by Katy Huxley, Social Science Park (SPARK) Research Fellow

As a researcher, there is an obligation on me to commit to Open Access publishing (often with emphasis on the need to be ‘REF-able’). Publishing our work, putting our ‘post-print’ articles and reports onto ORCA (Online Research at Cardiff, Cardiff’s Open Access Repository) is something that we should be doing. But have you ever thought about why it’s important beyond the commitments we make as employees to adhere to university policy?

In 2023 I responded to an opportunity circulated by the University Library Services, in partnership with GW4 and the UKRN (UK Reproducibility Network), to take part in an initiative aiming to accelerate the uptake of high quality open research practices. Was I interested in learning more about ‘Open Research’? Did I want to attend any of 5 train-the-trainer sessions – on Open Access, Pre-prints, Pre-registration, Open Data, or Sharing Software and Code?

There is a juxtaposition between my research practices – often using administrative data in secure environments with little opportunity to share code or data – and my interest in research culture and open research practices. I knew very little about pre-prints and pre-registration so I signed up to all 5 sessions! I’m glad I did, I’ve learnt a lot.

Open Access was our first train-the-trainer session. We discussed what Open Access is, why it is necessary, the technicalities, as well as the problems. So, first, a definition, Open Access is the free and unrestricted availability of full-text research material on the internet, allowing users to access research with no barriers. Increasingly this also includes data, code and other aspects of the research process. The benefits are well rehearsed – better exposure and engagement from other academics, practitioners, policy and the public being the key. The ability to engage with our work across the world is also touted as a benefit, but we need to critically acknowledge the ‘digital divide’ and the exclusion this reinforces in access to research.

The training provided space for me to think about the infrastructure at Cardiff. Whilst it’s necessary and useful to record our outputs on ORCA, the training also highlighted the benefits of having an ORCiD ID. This unique ID and the ORCiD system allows researchers to have an online space where all our publications, funding, biography, work history and more, regardless of institutional affiliation, are held. Academics can be fairly transient, moving institutions is common. A non-institutional space has the benefit of longevity.

Another key discussion point was around ‘predatory journals’. The green, gold, diamond, platinum classifications of the ‘openness’ – and importantly the costs – of Open Access Journals, can be daunting to navigate as they evolve. And there is a growing trend of exploiting researchers using predatory attempts to encourage submissions under the guise of Open Access with significant, sometimes eye-watering, hidden costs. It is something to be wary of, to check the fine print and to use resources that can help to identify scammers (such as Think Check Submit and Cabell’s Predatory Reports). Predatory journals aside, there are also plenty of resources to check journal and funder Open Access rules (such as SHERPA/RoMEO, Journal Checker Tool, DOAJ , OpenDOAR).

I’d highlight as 4 things that we need to think about when publishing. First, to check funding options, and for this to be done at the earliest opportunity in the research lifecycle, when applying for research funding. This can help prevent hiccups down the road. Second, think about where you are submitting or publishing and what the policies are around pre-prints, accepted manuscripts, retention rights and Open Access. Ask, ‘how open’ will a submission make your work? Third, use good version control so that you know which version is your submitted and accepted or ‘post-print’ manuscript to upload to your institutional repository. And finally, if you don’t know what to do or where to start, read some more Open Access blogs and talk to your University Library Service open access team to get some training or support.