Published 2021-09-26
Abstract
After more than a hundred years of general stability, the last two decades have seen enormous changes in scholarly publishing. These changes are due in large part to the ability to publish and share research online. The most recent shifts, and their moving parts, are being driven by open access initiatives and mandates for publicly funded research. The rise of free-to-read open access (OA) provides opportunities and challenges to researchers, as well as publishers. Opportunities include sharing research more equitably around the globe through OA journals, preprint repositories and other means while retaining copyright to one’s own work. Challenges faced today by researchers include discerning where best to share one’s work professionally and how to cover any publishing expenses. I’ll provide an overview of recent publishing practices by University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences scholars in light of these landscape changes. Along with greater choices and empowerment for authors, comes greater responsibility.