AECT 2013 - Open access journals research study

1. Scholars’ Perceptions of
Open Access Journals in
Educational Technology
Preliminary Analysis
Ross A. Perkins, Ph.D.
Patrick R. Lowenthal, Ph.D.
Dept. of Educational Technology
Boise State University

2. Outline of Presentation
Recent
Literature
Goals of
Study
Method
Selected
Results

3. OAJs in Recent Literature
Ritzhaupt, Sessums, & Johnson (2012)
•
•
•
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Examined 59 peer-reviewed journals in EdTech, 22 were OAJs
4 OAJs made the “Top 20”
n = 79; recruited from listservs
Results suggest OAJs are not as highly valued as the closed journals
Zawacki-Richter & Anderson (2012)
• Examined 12 distance education publications (6 open & 6 closed)
• Surveyed editorial boards of both and examined number of
citations
• Found the editors did not perceive the OAJs as either more or less
prestigious than closed journals

4. OAJs in Recent Literature
Veletsianos & Kimmons (2012)
• Identified the assumptions of the open scholarship movement
• Highlighted challenges to the movement’s aspirations of broadening
access
Anderson (2013)
• Considers the concept of using OAJs as open educational resources
Bohannon (2013)
• “Sting” operation targeting poor peer review practices of open
access science journals

5. Goals of the Research
What do EdTech professionals really think about
open access journals?
1. Learn which characteristics of OAJs are the
most important
2. Understand which OAJs scholars find to be
the most influential

6. Survey Overview
Survey Layout
Survey Deployment
Part 1
1 - 20 questions
(“Want to know”)
Phase 1
Authors of select OAJ
Part 2
12 additional questions
(“Nice to know”)
Phase 2
Listservs & Social Media

7. Phase 1: Survey Administration
Step One (Find OAJ authors)
• Identified OAJs related to EdTech
• Found 1,500+ articles in 22 OAJs related
to EdTech between 2011-2013
• Used Mechanical Turk to find email
addresses of up to three authors for each
article (n ~ 2,800)
Step Two (Clean Data)
• Eliminate duplicates; yielded 2, 208
unique authors
• Represents 1,236 articles in 22 open
journals.
Step Three (Deploy Survey)
• Emailed authors directly via Qualtrics
• 2,081 valid addresses
Ended 10/25/2013
233 Completions
11.2% of sample

8. Phase 1: Authors published in
• Australasian Journal of Educational
Technology (AJET)
• Canadian Journal of Learning & Technology
(CJLT)
• Contemporary Issues in Technology &
Teacher Education (CITE Journal)
• Design & Technology Education (DATE)
• Digital Culture & Education (DCE)
• Educational Technology & Society (ETS)
• EDUCAUSE Quarterly / Review (EDUCAUSE)
• Electronic Journal of e-Learning (EJEL)
• European Journal of Open & Distance
Learning (EURODL)
• First Monday
• Journal of Distance Education (JDE)
• Journal of e-Learning & Knowledge Society
(Je-LKS)
• Journal of Information Technology
Education (JITE)
• Journal of Interactive Online Learning
(JIOL)
• Journal of Learning Design (JLD)
• Journal of Open, Flexible & Distance
Learning (DEANZ)
• Journal of Technology Education (JTE)
• Online Journal of Distance Learning
Administration (OJDLA)
• Research in Learning Technology (ALT-J)
• The Journal of Educators Online (JEO)
• Turkish Online Journal of Distance
Education (TOJDE)
• Turkish Online Journal of Educational
Technology (TOJET)

9. Phase 2: Survey Administration
Social Media
• Facebook
• Authors’ pages
• AECT Division pages
• AERA SIG page
• LinkedIn
• AECT, ASTD, ISPI
ISTE, SLOAN-C,
eLearning Guild, others
• Twitter
Listservs
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
AECT (3 Divisions)
AERA
Blended Learning (Educause)
DEOS (PSU)
EdTech (MSU)
Instructional Tech (Educause)
IT Forum (UNT)
As of 10/30/2013
149 Completions

10. Research Participants
From Part 1 completers
Phase 1 (OAJ Authors)
Phase 2 (Listserv/SM)
n = 233
38.6%
60.2%
n = 149
“Educational Technology”
or closely related field
Instructional Personnel
(all ranks)
12.4 years (SD = 8.7)
Years of Experience
83.2%
> 3 pubs. since 2010
217
OAJ pubs since 2010
64.5%
60.4%
11.5 years (SD = 8.9)
54.4%
61

11. Research Participants
From Part 1 completers
Phase 1
OAJ Authors
5.58%
Phase 2
Lists/SM
4.03%
AMERICAS (South/Central/Carr.)
6.01%
6.71%
NORTH AMERICA
51.93%
87.92%
ASIA (South/SouthEastern/Eastern)
18.45%
12.75%
ASIA (Central/Western/Middle East/Eurasia)
9.87%
7.38%
EUROPE
45.49%
20.13%
OCEANIA
18.03%
3.36%
1.66
1.44
Region
AFRICA
Mean of regions selected

12. Research Participants
From Part 1 completers
Phase 1
Phase 2
OAJ Authors
Lists / SM
Main Editor
30
17
Editorial Board
45
19
Frequent Reviewer
52
20
Occasional Reviewer
92
43
Regular Contributor
25
9
Author or Co-Author
200
63
None
n/a
68
Role with any OAJ

13. Important traits for any journal
1 = Very Important / 3 = Not Important
Phase 1
TRAIT
Phase 2
OAJ Authors Lists / SM
Refereed
1.03
1.10
Journal Purpose
1.07
1.08
Abstracted
1.15
1.24
Speed of Publication
1.24
1.48
Impact Factor
1.28
1.43
Number of readers
1.31
1.50
Open access
1.44
1.63
Acceptance rate
1.56
1.59
Pay to publish
1.84
1.83

14. Desirability of…
Not Desirable 4
1 Highly Desirable
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
Consistent pubs over time
Abstracted
Frequently cited
No Fee Required
DOAJ
Ulrichs
Cabells
Prof Org / Univ. Affiliation
Recognized Editorial Board
Professional Website
High Readership
SSCI
High Volume of Pubs
Print Edition
3.5
4.0
Low Volume of Pubs
Fee Required

15. Likelihood to Publish in OAJ
within next 18 months
Phase 1
ROLE WITH ANY OAJ
Phase 2
OAJ Authors Lists / SM
Definitely will do so
33.2%
23.6%
Highly likely to do so
41.8%
23.6%
Somewhat likely to do so
19.8%
35.8%
Unlikely to do so
3.9%
12.8%
No Intention whatsoever
0.0%
4.1%
No Response
1.3%
0.0%

16. Future Changes to OAJ
1 = Great Decrease / 5 = Great Increase
Phase 1
CHANGE TO
Phase 2
OAJ Authors Lists / SM
Total Number of OAJs
4.06
4.16
Strength of Review Process
3.66
3.90
Acceptance by Community
3.98
4.07
Primary Outlet for Scholarship
3.74
3.68
Impact on Scholarship
3.97
4.03

17. Importance of impact factor to
colleagues
Phase 1
Phase 2
OAJ Authors
Lists / SM
Very Important
43.9%
33.7%
Important
37.8%
29.5%
Unimportant
8.5%
31.6%
Very Unimportant
7.9%
5.3%
Unknown
0%
0%
Missing
1.8%
0.0%
CHOICE

18. Importance of a printed versions
Phase 1
Phase 2
OAJ Authors
Lists / SM
Very Important
11.0%
14.9%
Important
28.0%
24.5%
Unimportant
26.2%
40.4%
Very Unimportant
26.8%
10.6%
Unknown
6.1%
9.6%
Missing
1.8%
0.0%
CHOICE

19. Peer trust of OAJ content
Phase 1
Phase 2
OAJ Authors
Lists / SM
High level of trust
25.3%
22.1%
Some degree of trust
54.3%
45.3%
Not as much trust
10.5%
18.9%
Little or no trust
2.5%
5.3%
Unknown
5.6%
8.4%
Missing
1.9%
0.0%
CHOICE

20. Recommend submitting to OAJ
to a pre-tenured colleague
Phase 1
CHOICE
Phase 2
OAJ Authors Lists / SM
Highly recommend
34.4%
17.9%
Recommend
42.5%
42.1%
Neither recommend
nor fail to recommend
17.5%
33.7%
Not at all recommend
3.8%
6.3%
Missing
1.9%
0.0%

21. Top Journals (Phase 1 & 2)
Selected top 30 of the “Top 5 Most Influential Journals” (Part 1 of survey)
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET)*
Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology (CJLT)*
Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education (CITE Journal)*
Design and Technology Education (DATE)*
Educational Technology & Society (ETS)*
EDUCAUSE Quarterly / Review (EDUCAUSE)*
eLearning Papers (eL Papers)
Electronic Journal of e-Learning (EJEL)*
European Journal of Open and Distance Learning (EURODL)*
First Monday*
International Journal of Educational Research and Technology (IJERT)
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL)
Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN)
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JCMC)
Journal of Distance Education (JDE)*
Journal of Interactive Online Learning (JIOL)
Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT)
Journal of Technology Education (JTE)*
Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration (OJDLA)*
* = authors from these OAJs were solicited in Phase 1

22. Top Journals (Phase 1)
EDUCAUSE Quarterly / Review (EDUCAUSE)
89
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET)
68
Educational Technology & Society (ETS)
58
First Monday
56
International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning (IRRODL)
51
Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education (CITE Journal)
45
European Journal of Open and Distance Learning (EURODL)
44
Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology (CJLT)
31
Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT)
28
Journal of Distance Education (JDE)
26

23. Top Journals (Phase 2)
EDUCAUSE Quarterly / Review (EDUCAUSE)
86
Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT)
36
Educational Technology & Society (ETS)
35
International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning (IRRODL)
32
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET)
26
THE Journal: Transforming Education through Technology (THE Journal)
25
Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education (CITE Journal)
24
Journal of Distance Education (JDE)
22
Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN)
21
Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology (CJLT)
19

24. Note: Final results and paper coming soon!
QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION