The adoption of open access journals for publishing management research: A review of the literature and the experience of The University of the West Indies

Abstract:  The article reviews the literature in the field of academic journal publishing highlighting the phenomenon of the recent entry of Internet-driven open access journals into a field dominated by the traditional subscription journals. The article has a twofold purpose of gaining an understanding of the main features and characteristics of the open access journal system through a review of the literature; and assessing the extent of adoption of open access by researchers in the management discipline through a review of the management publications by the University of the West Indies (UWI) researchers. A sequential exploratory strategy of two phases was used. The first phase focused on the collection of secondary data on journal publishing and the second involved reviewing the publishing record of The UWI with particular reference to management research. The main finding is that open access was not fully embraced as a publishing outlet because of academic resistance derived from questions of acceptability, and the existence of a system that assigns greater recognition to the established subscription journals. The article concludes that open access journals have grown in respectability and quality and are a good option for publishing management research by authors located in developing regions, provided the operational characteristics of this mode of publishing are understood and caution in journal selection is exercised. 

IFLA: Volume 42, Number 1, March 2016.

All the articles in this issue are in one large PDF. Here’s the table of contents:

Access to knowledge at the heart of the profession and a key to sustainable development 3 Steven W. Witt

Sharing the data: The information policies of NOAA and EUMETSAT 5 Freya R. Yost

Open access repositories in India: Characteristics and future potential 16 Prerna Singh

Open access and the Caribbean academic: An exploratory investigation of the adoption of this medium for publishing among science faculty of The University of the West Indies 25 Ingrid Iton and Ardon Iton

Faculty members’ perceptions and use of open access journals: Bangladesh perspective 36 Nafiz Zaman Shuva and Radia Taisir

Effective information service delivery to rural dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Whose job? 49 Chimezie P. Uzuegbu

Kuwait’s higher education libraries: A descriptive analysis 59 Asma J. AlKanan