The 2023 International Open Access (OA) Week will take place October 23 - 29, and OU Libraries invites faculty, staff, and students to join us in celebrating and learning more about the work of open access journal editors. OU Libraries partners with our editors to publish seven open access journals, which make high quality research on a variety of topics freely available to a global audience. This year’s OA Week theme is “Community Over Commercialization” and is an opportunity to collectively engage in conversations about approaches to open access publishing with respect to the best interests of the public and academic communities.

This event will include a panel discussion featuring the following speakers, followed by a question and answer period during which the audience will have the opportunity to learn more about the panelists’ experiences with open access.

Cristóbal Salinas Jr., Ph.D., co-editor-founder of the Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity (JCSCORE)

In this presentation, Dr. Salinas will provide an overview of the history and impact of the Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity (JCSCORE) will be discussed. Scimago Journal & Country Rank and the Directory of Open Access Journals confirmed that there is a lack of journals with a primary focus on research related to race and ethnicity, and JCSCORE is the only international journal that aims primarily to publish scholarship with a focus on race and ethnicity in education. Although many peer-reviewed journals use the terms diversity, multiculturalism, social justice, and inclusion in an effort to demonstrate a commitment to these words, there is still a need for peer-reviewed journals that focus on race and ethnicity. 

Cristóbal Salinas Jr., Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Educational Leadership and Research Methodology Department at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Education. He is the co-editor-founder of JCSCORE, an open access interdisciplinary journal published by OU Libraries. His prolific writing and research has illuminated the importance of understanding and addressing Latino/a/x student identity and development, and made Salinas sought after by media outlets such as CNN, NBC News, NPR, Telemundo, National Review, Chemistry World, Good Morning America, and the Chronicle in Higher Education.

David McLeod, Ph.D., editor in chief of the Journal of Forensic Social Work (JOFSW)

The Journal of Forensic Social Work (JOFSW) spent many years with Taylor and Francis, a well-known commercial publishing house. With the people who need it most not typically being at large R1 universities with prolific library journal subscription lists, this posed a fundamental problem for the National Organization of Forensic Social Work. JoFSW Editor in Chief David McLeod will speak to the strategies used to make the transition into the open and detail specific areas of challenge others should be prepared for in their journey toward democratized dissemination.

David McLeod, Ph.D., is the associate director and a professor for the OU Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work. He has participated broadly in the implementation of open access strategies including the use of open access textbooks and open access publishing. He is also the editor in chief of the Journal of Forensic Social Work (JOFSW), which he helped transition from Taylor and Francies to become a fully open access journal, published in partnership with OU Libraries.

Joe Alberti, Ph.D., editor in chief of The Alexander Journal, and Genoa Davidson, associate editor of The Alexander Journal

Professor Genoa Davidson and Dr. Joe Alberti have worked for seven years editing and publishing the AmSAT (American Society of the Alexander Technique) Journal, an American journal for the Alexander Technique, whose primary articles and readers are of the AmSAT community. When they took over as editors, the journal was offered in print only, with outdated formatting and accessibility. They updated the journal to a more accessible, online format. While the move did make accessibility easier and the articles continued to be of high quality generally, as academics, they saw the need for a peer-reviewed journal for the Alexander Technique. They reached out to the editors of the sister journal in the United Kingdom, STAT (Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique), and discussed the possibility of creating a new international, peer-reviewed open access journal. The STAT editorial team enthusiastically agreed to look further and help crystalize a vision for what this new journal might be - The Alexander Journal.  The OU Libraries Publishing Services team helped them to realize this vision. Professor Davidson and Dr. Alberti will discuss aspects of the process of the realization of the overall project.

Joe Alberti, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Voice and Performance in the Helmerich OU School of Drama at the University of Oklahoma. He is a certified AmSAT (American Society for the Alexander Technique) Alexander Technique teacher, a designated Linklater Voice Teacher, a certified Colaianni Speech teacher, and a director, actor, playwright, published author and acting, voice, and speech coach. With Genoa Davidson, he teaches workshops worldwide for both actors and to help non-actors become better communicators using improvisation. He is editor in chief of both the AmSAT Journal and the peer-reviewed open access journal, The Alexander Journal, published by OU Libraries.

Genoa Davidson is an actor, playwright, Alexander Technique teacher, published author and voice and speech coach. With her partner, Dr. Joe Alberti, she teaches workshops worldwide to help non-actors become better communicators using improvisation and co-edits the peer-reviewed open access journal, The Alexander Journal, published by OU Libraries. She is the associate editor and production manager of the AmSAT Journal.