{"id":348,"date":"2016-08-04T15:32:36","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T15:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trespass.network\/?p=348"},"modified":"2016-08-04T15:32:36","modified_gmt":"2016-08-04T15:32:36","slug":"why-you-should-post-your-papers-to-socarxiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sindominio.net\/trespass\/en\/2016\/08\/04\/why-you-should-post-your-papers-to-socarxiv\/","title":{"rendered":"Why you should post your papers to SocArXiv"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reposted from SocOpen: The SocArXiv blogHome<\/a><\/p>\n

By Elizabeth Popp Berman<\/p>\n

Academia.edu. ResearchGate. Your personal website. You have lots of options for posting your preprints online. Why should you upload them to SocArXiv?<\/p>\n

Because you want them to reach people, and because you believe in open access to social science.
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You know that posting your work online can extend its audience\u2014to academic peers, journalists, and the wider public\u2014by getting it out from behind journal paywalls. But papers at a personal website aren\u2019t always picked up by academic search engines, and they lack the metadata to maximize your visibility.<\/p>\n

And new corporate intermediaries are trying to insert themselves between your research and others\u2019 ability to read it. Uploading to sites like Academia and ResearchGate will reach some of your colleagues. But not every researcher has (or wants) an account, and they\u2019re not designed to provide access to the broader public.<\/p>\n

More importantly, while they provide a free service now, these are for-profit enterprises that have to find a way to monetize the content you provide\u2014your research. Academia, for example, recently floated the idea of asking users to pay \u201ca small fee\u201d for papers to be \u201cconsidered\u201d for recommendation by peers. Expanding access to knowledge is not these companies\u2019 primary mission.<\/p>\n

The last couple of years have seen smaller endeavors\u2014first Mendeley, and now the Social Science Research Network (SSRN)\u2014swallowed up by Elsevier, the 800-pound gorilla of for-profit academic publishing. With a trend toward consolidation and a drive to make money, these sites do not have the best interest of social science in mind.<\/p>\n

SocArXiv: the open-source alternative<\/p>\n

SocArXiv is the noncommercial, open-source alternative to this enclosure of the commons. Uploading your papers to SocArXiv provides a fast, simple way to make your work available and discoverable to the widest possible audience\u2014while also linking you to an emerging community of social scientists and a rapidly developing set of research tools.<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t spam everyone (or anyone) you\u2019ve ever met with requests to sign up. And through our link with the Open Science Framework<\/a>, you\u2019ll also be able to upload data, code, documentation, presentations, and any other files related to your research, and have the option of inviting comments and discussion of your work.<\/p>\n

Using SocArXiv is good for you. But it\u2019s also good for social science. Developed in collaboration with the Center for Open Science (COS), SocArXiv\u2019s sole mission is to maximize access to social science and improve its quality. And because we\u2019re noncommercial, we can keep service to social science at the heart of our mission.<\/p>\n

In addition, the partnership between SocArXiv and COS means that archiving preprints is just the beginning. COS, home of the Reproducibility Project in psychology, provides free, open-access tools to support data sharing, project collaboration, and pre-registration of studies. As it grows, SocArXiv also plans to develop peer review options, support research communities, and public open-access electronic journals. Like COS, we want individual incentives for researchers to align better with good scientific practices.<\/p>\n

How do I start?<\/p>\n

Getting started is quick and easy. As we roll out, we have implemented a temporary process<\/a> for collecting papers. Take five minutes to follow these three easy steps and help us reach a critical mass:<\/p>\n

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  1. Email socarxiv-Preprint@osf.io from your primary email address.<\/li>\n
  2. The subject of the email should be your paper title. The body of the email should be your abstract. Attach the paper as a pdf, Word document, or other file.<\/li>\n
  3. Hit send.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That\u2019s it. An Open Science Framework account will be created for you, and your paper will show up here<\/a> at the temporary site. If you want, you can add tags to make it easier to find. When the full site rolls out, your paper will automatically be included.<\/p>\n

    You can upload any documents or files you have not specifically signed away rights to share. This includes conference papers, working papers, datasets and code. For most journals, you have the right to post a preprint\u2014and sometimes the published version\u2014of a publication. SocArXiv will track multiple versions of papers, so readers see the most up-to-date while a historical record is retained.<\/p>\n

    Concerned about journal restrictions? RoMEO<\/a> maintains an extensive list of journal copyright policies that will reassure you. In sociology, for example:<\/p>\n