Barriers and benefits of transitioning to an equitable open access model: interviews with LIS journal editors

Not all library and information science (LIS) journals operate under an equitable open access (OA) model, despite librarianship’s emphasis on OA as a value. A previous study illuminated significant barriers for journal editors in transitioning to an equitable OA model. This follow-up study sought, t...

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Main Authors: Teresa Schultz, Rachel Borchardt, DeDe Dawson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Ubiquity Press 2025-05-01
Series:Insights: The UKSG Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://account.insights.uksg.org/index.php/up-j-i/article/view/677
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author Teresa Schultz
Rachel Borchardt
DeDe Dawson
author_facet Teresa Schultz
Rachel Borchardt
DeDe Dawson
author_sort Teresa Schultz
collection DOAJ
description Not all library and information science (LIS) journals operate under an equitable open access (OA) model, despite librarianship’s emphasis on OA as a value. A previous study illuminated significant barriers for journal editors in transitioning to an equitable OA model. This follow-up study sought, through structured interviews with editors of unflipped journals, to further explore these barriers in order to identify themes and potential solutions to overcome barriers. LIS journal editors who oversaw a transition to equitable OA models were also interviewed regarding the process and impact of flipping the journal. Through qualitative analysis of these interviews, several themes emerged. Barriers to flipping include lack of individual or journal-level agency and motivation, as well as competing priorities for the editors, journal or organization. Benefits to flipping included better alignment of personal and organizational values, increases to perceived prestige and lack of membership disruption for professional societies. Analysis also demonstrated ways in which barriers to flipping differ between professional society journals and large for-profit publisher journals. Based on the analysis, several next steps were identified to better support LIS and other journal editors, as well as potentially move toward solutions to successfully transition more journals in the future.
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spelling doaj-art-481fe13029b84aa5922d3c2bbf62f84c2025-08-20T03:25:27ZengUbiquity PressInsights: The UKSG Journal2048-77542025-05-01388810.1629/uksg.677675Barriers and benefits of transitioning to an equitable open access model: interviews with LIS journal editorsTeresa Schultz0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4518-032XRachel Borchardt1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8464-1045DeDe Dawson2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1281-5744Scholarly Communication & Social Sciences Librarian, University of Nevada, RenoScholarly Communications Librarian, American University, Washington D.C.Open Scholarship Librarian, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SKNot all library and information science (LIS) journals operate under an equitable open access (OA) model, despite librarianship’s emphasis on OA as a value. A previous study illuminated significant barriers for journal editors in transitioning to an equitable OA model. This follow-up study sought, through structured interviews with editors of unflipped journals, to further explore these barriers in order to identify themes and potential solutions to overcome barriers. LIS journal editors who oversaw a transition to equitable OA models were also interviewed regarding the process and impact of flipping the journal. Through qualitative analysis of these interviews, several themes emerged. Barriers to flipping include lack of individual or journal-level agency and motivation, as well as competing priorities for the editors, journal or organization. Benefits to flipping included better alignment of personal and organizational values, increases to perceived prestige and lack of membership disruption for professional societies. Analysis also demonstrated ways in which barriers to flipping differ between professional society journals and large for-profit publisher journals. Based on the analysis, several next steps were identified to better support LIS and other journal editors, as well as potentially move toward solutions to successfully transition more journals in the future.https://account.insights.uksg.org/index.php/up-j-i/article/view/677library sciencelisopen accessequitable open accesslis scholarly literaturediamond open access
spellingShingle Teresa Schultz
Rachel Borchardt
DeDe Dawson
Barriers and benefits of transitioning to an equitable open access model: interviews with LIS journal editors
Insights: The UKSG Journal
library science
lis
open access
equitable open access
lis scholarly literature
diamond open access
title Barriers and benefits of transitioning to an equitable open access model: interviews with LIS journal editors
title_full Barriers and benefits of transitioning to an equitable open access model: interviews with LIS journal editors
title_fullStr Barriers and benefits of transitioning to an equitable open access model: interviews with LIS journal editors
title_full_unstemmed Barriers and benefits of transitioning to an equitable open access model: interviews with LIS journal editors
title_short Barriers and benefits of transitioning to an equitable open access model: interviews with LIS journal editors
title_sort barriers and benefits of transitioning to an equitable open access model interviews with lis journal editors
topic library science
lis
open access
equitable open access
lis scholarly literature
diamond open access
url https://account.insights.uksg.org/index.php/up-j-i/article/view/677
work_keys_str_mv AT teresaschultz barriersandbenefitsoftransitioningtoanequitableopenaccessmodelinterviewswithlisjournaleditors
AT rachelborchardt barriersandbenefitsoftransitioningtoanequitableopenaccessmodelinterviewswithlisjournaleditors
AT dededawson barriersandbenefitsoftransitioningtoanequitableopenaccessmodelinterviewswithlisjournaleditors