When I started creating my new ‘Papers‘ page, I had a dream of making all my academic work easily accessible–a ‘live CV’ with each paper just one click away.  I didn’t realize how much of my life’s work is locked inside publisher databases.

Out of 39 papers, I was able to link to the actual, published paper on the web twice.  I found links to early drafts or versions of the paper in five other cases.  Google Books has part or all of four other publications, and a copy of another paper in its cache.  The rest are either paid access only, or don’t exist as far as the web is concerned.  Prices ranged from $20 to $43 US per article.

Not only is some kind of open access the ‘right thing to do’, it helps work get cited more often–from 45 to 500% more often, according to MIT’s open access policy FAQ.  I’ll be proposing that USF adopt a similar open access policy for scholarly works and course syllabi, with the ability to opt-out no questions asked.  But it’s important for the default to be open, as the NIH found out when they started their open access policy in 2008.  Sharing shot up from 4 to about 60%.

I do love the citations feature on Google Scholar though, and I’ve added that to the page.  It’s a lifesaver for those of us without ISI/Web of Knowledge access.