Marisa Ramirez

Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Sciences

In academia, there is a growing acceptance of sharing the final electronic version of graduate work, such as a thesis or dissertation, in an online university repository. Though previous studies have shown that journal editors are willing to consider manuscripts derived from electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), faculty advisors and graduate students continue to raise concerns that online discoverability of ETDs negatively impact future opportunities to publish those findings. The current study investigated science journal policies on open access ETDs and found that more than half of the science journals responding (51.4%) reported that manuscripts derived from openly accessible ETDs are welcome for submission and an additional 29.1 percent would accept revised ETDs under certain conditions.

What is in a Name? Introducing the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication

Video Credit: Defining Scholarly Communication , created/owned by the contributors and produced by Kathryn Pope and Vin Aliberto, Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, Columbia University Libraries/Information Services. CC-BY.

FERPA and Student Work: Considerations for Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Information privacy is an important consideration when transitioning university collections from paper to electronic access. Yet the protection of -- and limits to -- student privacy regulations have rarely been addressed in the literature for online electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and its relevance to student work should be a consideration when widely distributing scholarship like e-portfolios, ETDs, and senior capstone projects. In this article, we share several campus approaches to FERPA and electronic student work.

‘Originality’ Revisited: Balancing Tradition and Agility in JLSC

The basic structure and function of scholarly journals have remained largely unchanged since 1665, when the concepts of publisher, editor, and peer reviewer were outlined in the initial description of Philosophical Transactions (Zuckerman & Morton, 1971). The traditions that have developed since that time have become almost sacrosanct—journals that diverge from the three pillars of original submissions , blind peer review , and editorial authority (along with the slightly less inviolable fourth pillar of paper ) are often viewed as lesser by scholars and the committees that evaluate them for promotion or tenure.

A Story to Tell

Telling stories is not a strong suit of mine. I often find myself blurting out the ending in a scramble to recapture my waning audience.