BY SUZANNE SAMUEL
UCOP News
An electronic alternative to publishing research
in pricey print journals is catching on with some University
of California faculty, including researchers at UCLA.
So far, researchers from nearly 100 UC institutes,
departments, research units and centers at nine campuses have
deposited their working papers, reports and research results
in a central online location created by the California Digital
Library (CDL). And statistics show that this research is being
disseminated widely via the Internet.
The growing popularity of CDL’s eScholarship
Repository demonstrates its expanding role as a scholarly publishing
and research hub, organizers said. About 1,200 working papers,
technical reports, research results, datasets with commentary
and peer-reviewed series have been placed in the repository
since it was launched a year ago. Users have logged 60,000 full-text
downloads of scholarship in a wide range of fields, from the
social sciences and the humanities to business and science.
UCLA’s Institute for Social Science Research,
directed by David O. Sears, was one of the first research units
on campus to sign on.
“Participating in the repository has
increased our visibility and contributed to the exchange of
research in the social sciences,” said Sears, professor
of psychology and political science. “I am especially
grateful for the archival benefits. Because the scholarly materials
we contribute will be maintained by the CDL for the long-term
future, we can better support our faculty affiliates.”
Faculty are able to deposit their materials
for free in the university-supplied resource instead of paying
for commercial alternatives. Users can also download them at
no charge.
“The fact that more than 95% of full-text
downloads are coming from outside the University of California
indicates that there is a hunger for this form of distribution,”
said Catherine H. Candee, CDL’s director for scholarly
communication initiatives. “It also shows that the repository
is enabling UC scholars to get their research disseminated widely.”
Among the participants are The Anderson School,
Center for Studies in Higher Education at UC Berkeley, UC Energy
Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC
San Diego.
To learn more, go to: http://repositories.cdlib.org/escholarship/.
