Self-archiving options on social networks: a review of options

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-12-2017-0091
Pages9-12
Published date04 March 2019
Date04 March 2019
AuthorMonica Eberechukwu Eze,Clement Chukwuma Okeji,Gabriel Ejiobi Bosah
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Library & information services
Self-archiving options on social networks: a review
of options
Monica Eberechukwu Eze, Clement Chukwuma Okeji and Gabriel Ejiobi Bosah
Introduction
Document-sharing services such as
ResearchGate (RG), Academia.edu,
Google Scholar and other profiling
platforms are experiencing a strong
growth, caused by a massive
incorporation of new members from all
over the world and every discipline
(Ortega, 2017). Self-archiving is the act
of the author depositing a free copy of an
electronic document online (pre-print,
post-print, theses, book chapters, etc.) to
one’s own institutional repository or open
archive for the purpose of maximizing its
accessibility, usage andcitationimpact
(Harnad, 2001). Journal publishers have
different copyright policies with regard to
self-archiving pre-print and post-prints.
Accordingtothepolicyofmany
publishers, one can self-archive different
versions of their research paper:
the version before peer review,
called the “pre-print”; and
the version that has been peer
reviewed and accepted for
publication, called the “post-print.”
Several studies have reported the
importance of self-archiving papers. The
studybyAle-Ebrahimet al. (2014) found
that self-archiving of the articles will
greatly improve the visibility and citation
impact of the articles. According to Ale-
Ebrahim et al. “Once a paper’s visibility
increases, the citation will be increased at
a significant rate.”
According to Cerejo (2013),
researchers should “go ahead and
consider self-archiving as a viable
option to contribute to the progress of
science and to increase ones’ own
research impact by making research
more accessible.” Many publishers now
encourage researchers to consider
having profiles in academic social
networking sites like Kudos,
ResearchGate, Mendeley.com, etc. For
example, Emerald, in their website,
called for researchers to create a profile
with Kudos by saying “As you know,
sharing knowledge with peers and
maximizing the quality of your research
are invaluable tools in furthering your
work and increasing citations.” They
also added “many of our authors find
that when they are connecting with
other authors on social media and
accessing their peers’ research, they
find inspiration for their next article.”
If self-archiving carries such
benefits, why is it not widely prevalent?
Cerejo (2013) enumerated some of the
reasons for this and counter arguments
in support of self-archiving. They are:
Lack of awareness of its benefits:A
large proportion of authors are
unaware of the option of self-
archiving and its benefits.
Therefore, even if the authors’
institutions have repositories,
authors themselves don’t bother
with self-archiving unless their
institutions mandate it.
Concern about the quality of self-
archived articles: In some fields of
study, such as computer science,
pre-prints are archived much more
than post-prints. Self-archiving
pre-prints allows for research to be
scrutinized by the larger scientific
community before it goes through
peer review. Further, in all
archiving repositories, pre-prints
are clearly marked as such. As for
post-prints, their quality need not
be questioned because they are
merely a copy of the journal’s
peer-reviewed published version.
Fear of infringing the journal’s
copyright policies: Most journals,
in their instructions for authors,
clearly state their copyright
policies with regard to self-
archiving. As long as you read and
understand these policies, most of
which allow authors to self-
archive, you do not risk infringing
any agreements.
Perception that self-archiving is
time consuming and cumbersome:
Contrary to this belief, self-
archiving takes only about 10 min
for the first paper when you have to
create a profile/account, and only a
small percentage of people find it
“very difficult.” For all subsequent
papers, the process is even easier
and faster.
Fear of disrupting the current
scholarly publishing model:
Institutions may refrain from
creating repositories for fear that
such archives may be seen as a
substitute for journals.
Some social networks specifically
relevant to the academic community
include ResearchGate, Academia.edu,
Mendeley.com, and others (Beall,
2010). Many researchers, mostly in the
developing countries, are not aware and
do not utilize open access platforms to
showcase their research output. For
example, Jan and Anwar (2013) have
reported the relative non-visibility of
Pakistani LIS outputs published in local
languages and in non-impact-factor
journals.
Examples of self-archiving platforms
by researchers
Academic social networks can help
one make connections, find jobs, learn
what other researchers in one’s field are
working on, and ask and answer
questions. Studies have shown that
researchers use different academic
social sites for different purposes. For
example ResearchGate and Academia.
edu were mainly utilized for contacting
new collaborators, while Mendeley.com
was used for finding new papers (Van
Noorden, 2014). Haustein et al. (2014a)
LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 1 2019, pp. 9-12, V
CEmerald Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/LHTN-12-2017-0091 9

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