Access and equity in higher education is a passion of mine. Yet, access is only part of the battle. An equally important struggle is the rising cost of higher education. Beyond tuition and fees, students may also feel the burden of the cost of supplemental educational materials (i.e.books, journals, software). These costs add up and are not typically covered by a graduate assistantship. The cost of academia for both graduate students and new faculty is why open access journals are so important.
The Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning has been stewarded by The University of Indiana since 2001 (About the Journal | Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, n.d.). The scope of the journal is an interdisciplinary approach to addressing issues in Higher Education. The journal provides a place for researchers to publish peer reviewed articles, reflective essays, critiques, literature reviews, case studies, and quick hits and generates four issues per year (About the Journal | Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, n.d.). The addition and literature reviews makes the journal among the few in Higher Education publication avenues.
Moreover, the about page of the journal proudly proclaims their commitment to access (About the Journal | Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, n.d.).
The journal is considered a “Diamond Open Access Journal ” meaning that neither author, institution, nor reader pay for access to the published materials. The affordability of such open access journals mean that faculty and student researchers are not burdened by paywalls. This means that more research can be shared and produced as it lowers the cost of entry.
In Conclusion, though open access journals are new to me they are on the rise in higher education. As a graduate student I am all too familiar with the frustration around paywalls which limit quality research to those who can afford to access. But it does not have to be this way. I hope to see more researchers publish in open access journals as they continue to grow in equity and access.
References
About the Journal | Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. (n.d.).
Scholarworks.Iu.Edu. Retrieved October 10, 2020, from
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/about