Update 4/2/24

The Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication (JLSC) has extended the call for proposals for a special issue on 'Open Access: Diverse Experiences and Expectations' to Wednesday, April 10th. This extension also includes those interested in peer reviewing for the special issue.

Further details on the call for proposals and how to submit are below: 

In 2014, the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication brought together a group of researchers active in scholarly publishing to write about fundamental challenges and pitfalls associated with open-access (OA) models. That Special Issue, Bottlenecks in the Open-Access System: Voices from Around the Globe, provided a summary of diverse experiences with OA in 2014.

We now invite articles and essays that provide specific, in-depth insights into scholars’ experiences with OA, in the hope that we will hear from contributors worldwide, who can share their distinct experiences and perspectives. We aim to present concrete examples and ways forward when it comes to promoting OA and navigating hurdles that restrict access to research findings and scholarship.

We invite contributions that provide insights into current challenges to OA.

Examples of Special Issue topics include but are not limited to:

• Case studies on OA challenges
  --These might describe current country-specific, institution-specific, discipline-specific, or individualized challenges related to OA
  --Such a case study might describe the scholar’s current experiences with particular OA models or options 
• Examples of recent or existing solutions or workarounds fostering dissemination of scholarly work in the face of OA hurdles
• Success stories: current examples of OA advocacy, OA initiatives, or OA models that have produced results
• Contributions that reflect on the last ten years of OA from the particular perspective of the authors
• Projections and predictions on what the next ten years of OA publishing may look like

• Short paper 1,500 - 2,500 words
• Long paper 2,500 - 4,000 words

Final contributions will typically include the following elements: 

• Introduction
• Description of Program/Service/Case study (potential subsections could include: Lessons Learned, Assessment/Evaluation, etc.)
• Next Steps

Submission Information

• Proposal (250 words) submission deadline: April 05 April 10
• Decisions sent to authors: early May
• Authors submit first drafts of papers: late July
• Authors receive edits: late September
• Authors submit final drafts of papers: late October
• Commencement of Special Issue publication: early December

Submission Process

Submissions can be made using the following link: 

https://forms.gle/tJdBLWYzwGKSse6L8  

Even as OA principles and practices have been promoted since 2014 and continue to be promoted at present, options and opportunities open to scholars continue to diverge greatly. We ask how or if the situation has improved for scholars and if new and different bottlenecks characterize the OA system in 2024. We particularly want to hear from those whose experiences were not reflected or described in the previous Special Issue.

Call for peer reviewers

JLSC is also looking for people interested in contributing to double-blind peer review process for this special issue. If you are interested in this please let us know via the peer review submission form:

https://forms.gle/APJpuracbbEiSDwx8 

This form will remain open until late July 2024.

submissions reviewers