PaLRaP Update
Growth and Reader Response
During the First Year
October 22, 2013
John Barnett
Tom Reinsfelder
The Past
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Background work began in January 2012
Work began on 1st issue in fall 2012
Vol. 1, No. 1 published April 2013
See the Editor’s Welcome in the first issue for
more details
PaLRaP published content
• Vol 1, No 1 – Spring 2013
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Research
Practice
News
Commentary
Editorial
2
3
4
1
1
• Total articles published
11
Promotion
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Conference presentations
Email lists
Print media/press release/rack card
Social media
– Twitter
– Linked In
• Alerts
– Google
– Talkwalker
Abstract views
• Provided by PKP OJS
• Viewable by authors/journal staff
Issue 1 (Spring 2013)
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Research
Practice
News
Commentary
Editor’s welcome
#
(2)
(3)
(4)
(1)
(1)
Total
1,267
1,613
1,468
605
416
Average per Article
633
537
367
Abstract views – All items
Vol 1 No 1 - Spring 2013
8%
11%
24%
Research
Practice
News
Commentary
27%
Editorial
30%
Google Analytics
• May 1 – October 15, 2013
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Visits = 1,494
Unique visitors = 1,004
Page views = 10,924
Unique page views = 6,696
Average visit duration = 00:05:29
Google Analytics
• Audience
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United States
Egypt
United Kingdom
Palestine
Israel
India
Australia
1,309
18
14
13
10
10
9
The Present
• Vol. 1, No. 2 (Fall 2013)
• More guidance needed for:
– Authors
– Copyeditors
• New sections added
– Features
– “Noteworthy” – personnel briefs from PA libraries
PaLRaP published content
• Vol 1, No 2 – Fall 2013
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Research
Practice
News
Features
Commentary
Editorial
0
5
9
1
2
1
• Total articles to be published
18
PaLRaP published content %
Spring 2013 & Fall 2013
7%
7%
10%
3%
Research
28%
Practice
News
Feature
Commentary
Editorial
45%
Observations
• APA Style challenges
– Frequent citation & formatting errors
• Copyediting challenges
– Most articles need some editing to improve
readability
• Template challenges
• Time investment
Life cycle of an article
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Author submits article
Editors read/evaluate submission
Peer review
Communicate decision to author & author revisions
Copyedit
Editors review copyediting
Authors review copyediting
Layout
Editors review layout
Authors review layout & proofread
Corrections
Editors proofread
Publish
Total
ongoing
<2-3 days
3-4 weeks
1-4 weeks
2 weeks
<1 week
1 week
1 week
2-3 days
1 week
1 week
1 week
1 week
15 to 22 weeks
Copyright Policy
• Creative Commons: CC-BY
• Readers may:
– Share: Copy, Distribute, and Transmit the Work
– Remix: Adapt the Work
• Readers must:
– Provide attribution when redistributing or
remixing the work
The Future
• Next issue: Vol. 2, No. 1 – Spring 2014
• Adding other types of content
– Reviews? What parameters?
– Other ideas?
• Further clarify workflows for all roles
• Recruit editorial team volunteers
• Recruit authors and reviewers - ongoing
Recruiting editorial team
• Board members (ideally) serve 2-year terms
• Term began Fall 2012
• Co-Editors, News Editors, Publicity Coordinator
due to change in Fall 2014
• Pressing need for copyeditors, layout editors
Recruiting reviewers and authors
• Reviewers always welcome
– Specializations appreciated
– Who can serve as a reviewer?
• Research and practice authors welcome
– Contact presenters at conferences
– Solicit content from colleagues
– Open call for articles to PA lists
• Brief news items
– New submission system
– Balanced content
Increasing readership and profile
• More conference presentations
• Encourage more articles from PA public, school,
and special libraries
• Messages to PA and US library lists
• Traditional and social media
• Increased indexing/harvesting
Indexing/registration
• Google Scholar
• MediaFinder
– Database of U.S./Canadian media/publications
• Public Knowledge Project Open Journal Systems
journal list
• Directory of Open Access Journals (pending)
– Suggested to DOAJ; has not yet been accepted
• EBSCO (pending)
– Contractual agreement
– Indexing & harvesting of full-text content
Indexing/registration - future
• With 10 peer-reviewed articles or 2
published issues, opportunities increase
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Open Archives Registry
UIUC OIA Registry
OAIster
Ulrich’s
NewJour
Electronic Journals Library
Rolling vs. discrete issues
• Articles in OA journals can be published
– On a rolling basis, as they become ready
– Or in complete, discrete issues
– Or in rolling volumes with an occasional special issue
• What should PaLRaP do?
The survey says…
• Cirasella, J., and Bowdoin, S. (2013).
Just Roll with It? Rolling Volumes vs. Discrete Issues in
Open Access Library and Information Science Journals.
Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication
1(4):eP1086. doi:10.7710/2162-3309.1086
Results
• Survey was distributed to journal editors, asking
them about their publication model and their
reasons for and satisfaction with that model
• 21 responses
– 12 publish in discrete issues
– 8 in rolling volumes
– 1 in rolling volumes with occasional special issue
Satisfaction
• Regardless of model, almost all editors cited ease
of workflow as justification for chosen model
• All rolling-volume editors reported being
satisfied with their model
• Satisfaction was less universal among discreteissue editors
Benefits of Discrete Issues
(as reported by editors of OA journals)
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Easier production workflow
Deadlines are more meaningful
Easier to promote new issues
Look & feel like a traditional journal
Easier to solicit manuscripts
Work well for themed issues
Benefits of Rolling Issues
(as reported by editors of OA journals)
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Improved production workflows
Less emphasis on deadlines
Faster dissemination of information
Prevents a backlog of articles
Easier to solicit manuscripts
Discussion
• Readers and authors appreciate quick
publication times
• Journal staffing needs to be consistent—or does
it?
• What are other possible “issues” with a different
model?
• Which model should PaLRaP follow?
Paying the bills - expenses
Open Access means free to read, and
volunteers provide the labor, but….
…someone still has to pay the bills.
• University of Pittsburgh E-Journal Publishing
• Domain name
• Publicity
Paying the bills - income
• Donate button
and join PaLA link
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Article processing fees
Advertising
Sponsorships
Partnerships
Value-added fee-based services
Something else?
Questions? Comments?
• Website: http://www.palrap.org
• Journal email: palrap@mail.pitt.edu
• John Barnett, Co-Editor, jhb23@pitt.edu
• Tom Reinsfelder, Co-Editor, tlr15@psu.edu