As more scholars publish in less-recognized open-access journals, the search is on for other ways to measure the impact of their research. One potential measure of reach is in online sharing: posts on Twitter, blog links, and other engagement metrics of various kinds.
HuMetricsHSS, a humanities and social-sciences project that tracks indicators in those fields, includes as another such metric “openness,” including a researcher’s “transparency, candor, and accountability, in addition to the practice of making one’s research open access at all stages.”
Such efforts seek to chip away at long-established cultural norms. Early-career academics, encouraged by the incentives of tenure and promotion, feel pressure to publish in prestigious academic journals. Faculty members reviewing an applicant’s research may not be able to evaluate its content if they do not have the proper specialty, so the name of a well-known subscription journal can serve as a proxy for quality.
Philip N. Cohen, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland at College Park, has been following this push. But even that more holistic approach still has shortfalls, he says. “It’s sort of like the SAT. You are looking for a measure which works across disciplines or across different contexts. Everybody goes to a different high school.”
Cohen says structures and requirements developed by universities would force departments and academics to “adapt to it and figure it out.”
So far, few have taken that tack. Only 5 percent of institutions mentioned the term “open access” in review, promotion, and tenure documents, according to a 2018 review conducted by academics at Simon Fraser University, Arizona State University, the University of Vermont, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The paper’s lead author is Juan Pablo Alperin, an assistant professor in publishing at Simon Fraser University. Alperin is immersed in this world; he serves as associate director of research for the Public Knowledge Project, which develops free open-source software and conducts research to improve the quality and reach of publishing.
Less than a decade into his career, Alperin wonders, too, how these issues will affect his own academic trajectory. He is considering going up for tenure soon. Knowing how many articles he’s published, he’s not nervous. But perhaps unlike the scholars of generations past, he also knows that he hasn’t played the game of exclusivity. And he hasn’t tried to do so.
“I refuse to give in,” he says, “and follow a traditional model.”
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