ON OPEN ACCESS, INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES, REPRODUCIBILITY, AND PLAGIARISM: LIBRARIANS AND INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS’ PERSPECTIVES AND ROLES IN OPEN SCIENCE

Abstract

Digital libraries and institutional repositories (IR) were identified to be important and primary tools in the open access movement. Libraries and information centers were at the forefront of providing and advocating free access as well as addressing the permission barrier, taking the role of designers, promoters, and maintainers of IR. Librarians and information professionals have to address the challenges between journal subscriptions, pricing crises, article processing charges for authors, predatory publishing, plagiarism, reproducibility, ethics, and scholarly communication with the open access movement. This paper will share some insights into issues we encounter as we advocate this movement. A review of the literature and news articles related to open access, institutional repository, and reproducibility was conducted. A particular case study of a library advocating open access through establishing an IR and its use of the Request Copy Button will be presented. How it provided access to publicly funded research will be highlighted. Lastly, the perceived roles of librarians and information professionals in open science will be discussed.