Article
Charting the landscape of open access journals in library and information science
Webology
(2017)
Abstract
Open access journals (OAJs) represent a significant portion of the literature in library and information science (LIS). This study contributes to current efforts to raise awareness of the LIS OA literature by focusing on the characteristics of journals publishing under an open access gold model. To understand the characteristics of LIS OAJs, 65 English language LIS journals were analyzed via descriptive statistical analysis and summative qualitative content analysis. Along these lines, the study updates and extends previous efforts to describe these journals and their practices. Findings suggest there are several key publication characteristics and commonly represented subject areas in the landscape of active LIS OAJs. Implications for practice include the recognition of the growing diversity of subjects and target audiences, the central role of double-blind peer review in LIS OA, and the acknowledgement that consistency and interoperability among OAJs remains a challenge that may undermine goals for dissemination. © 2017, Emmanuel Edward Te, Frances Owens, Megan Lohnash, Janice Christen-Whitney and Kristen Radsliff Rebmann.
Keywords
- Journals,
- Library and information science,
- Open access,
- Publishing,
- Scholarly communication
Disciplines
Publication Date
June, 2017
Citation Information
Kristen Radsliff Rebmann. "Charting the landscape of open access journals in library and information science" Webology Vol. 14 Iss. 1 (2017) p. 8 - 20 ISSN: 1735188X Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kristen_rebmann/30/