1 - The Scholarly Communication Landscape

Summary

Introduction

Scholarly communication is a core competency in librarianship. It is essential for those who pursue a career in academic libraries, especially in the area of research support. It is also important for all who work in school, public and special libraries – because a basic understanding of the research and publication processes is necessary for assisting academic work at all levels. Indeed, it is of utmost importance that librarians can explain such terms as preprints, peer-reviewed publications and retraction in the context of information and media literacy.

Not long ago, physical copies of academic journals and monographs were housed in academic libraries, accessible only to those who are authorised to enter and read and perhaps make a few photocopies. There were no electronic databases or blogs or tweets, nor were there data products that analyse and compare research productivity and performance. There were no Creative Common (CC) licenses or open access models of different colours. Uploading a preprint was not an option and, in fact, researchers used to send their drafts to colleagues for comments by post! Today, researchers are faced with a multitude of publication channels, open access options and funding mandates.

In the last two decades there has been an increased demand for scholarly communication and research support roles in academic libraries. The development of online platforms and tools have led to unprecedented changes in publishing options, research assessments and research policies and consequently a transforming scholarly communication landscape. The tasks of a scholarly communication librarian can involve, but are not limited to, bibliometric analyses, publishers and publications advice, research data management and research dissemination and societal impact.

This chapter will provide an overview of the scholarly communication landscape by introducing the key actors and their complex and interrelated relationships, followed by a brief description of chapters with the key theme of this book: Where to publish?

Key actors

The primary role of scholarly communication librarians is to support researchers in publishing and disseminating research outputs in traditional and non-traditional venues. Answering the question ‘Where to publish?’, however, involves the understanding of the complex relationship of the key actors. In the following, the description of publishers, universities and research institutions, researchers and academic and research libraries aims to provide an overview of their contributions and interests in the scholarly communication landscape.