Publishing in an open journal (Open Access, OA) or as part of an open textbook (Open Educational Resource, OER) allows your material to be more freely disseminated and read. You retain the rights to your intellectual property (see Licensing tab for options), but your research is not locked behind paywalls. This gives students-as-professionals access to academic research after graduation, when they no longer have access to the institutional subscriptions provided by affiliation with institutions of higher ed. Publishing in an open format builds on the campus' dedication to providing equitable education for underserved populations, and reduces Information Privilege, the system whereby credible research is kept behind paywalls that prevent "non-academics" or those of a lower socioeconomic status from accessing it. Emory University lays out a good argument for Open on their Understanding Open Access page. [If this link is down, please let ANLangdon@adams.edu know to contact Jody Bailey.]
And despite the negative associations with "free" information online being inherently low-quality, many (if not most) OER are peer-reviewed. The Open Education Network (formerly Open Textbook Network) updated a graphic showing average peer/faculty reviews of content; see graphic at the bottom of the left column on this page. Key takeaways: 94.9% of faculty-peer reviews were 3.5 to 5 stars, with 84.6% being 4-5 stars (very good to great); only 13.6% said the quality was middling or average (3-4 stars), and a paltry 2.2% said they were low quality (mediocre to very bad, 1-3 stars).
ASU's Open Ed Committee is working with Administration to get Open Educational Practices (OEP) included in Tenure & Promotion streams. See more on the "Faculty Info" tab of this Research Guide.
There are myriad ways to publish your work in an open forum. Here are some suggestions, but do not hesitate to reach out to Amanda Langdon, Open Education Committee Chair and OER Librarian for assistance (ANLangdon@adams.edu). Publishing platforms are listed here; other resources (compiled by other libraries) can be found on the Webinars & Other Resources tab.
ASU's Open Education Committee is dedicated to working with Administration to revise and update T&P processes to reflect higher education's move towards a more equitable, inclusive future for academic publishing. While we're not there yet, please don't be discouraged from exploring this option.
SPARC featured the news story Recognizing "Open" in Tenure & Promotion at UBC [British Columbia, from 2017] that may be of interest, although the link to UBC's RPT guide itself is broken.
DOERS3 (Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success) has created a matrix to be used by both faculty in their project selections and justifications, and by T&P Committees interested in adapting their policies to include Open Educational efforts and contributions.
See the Licensing & Attribution tab of this guide for more information about Creative Commons Licenses and remixing content.
