Faculty Adoption of Open Access Publishing in the University System of Georgia

Abstract

For the past decade, universities worldwide have adopted open access policies for the sharing of published and unpublished materials in order to promote access to knowledge generated. Many factors have contributed to the emergence of open access in the academic publishing environment and its adoption by faculty members. The aim of this paper is to explore the role and contribution of faculty, administrator and librarian involvement in the development and use of open access tools within the University System of Georgia (USG), thirty-five state colleges and universities administered by a single board of regents. As part of an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant, a statewide institutional repository called the GALILEO Knowledge Repository (GKR) is now in its third year of development. A survey concerning issues associated with open access, author rights, use and perceptions of institutional repositories was released in April 2012. Over 500 faculty members, administrators and librarians from 25 of the colleges and universities have completed the survey. In addition to the survey, the open access policies of participating colleges and universities and the formal inclusion of open access tools within library resources will be examined as factors influencing repository adoption on individual campuses.