Shannon Mattern

People write in different venues for different reasons. Sometimes they need something their employer will recognize and value. Sometimes their audience is actually other academics. &etc. If one ONLY publishes in one type of venue, that's an issue. Otherwise, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks. All this is true! It just seems odd to write about anarchism for anarchists in an Elsevier journal, for instance :)

Oh, completely! My data colonialism piece is behind a paywall and it's awful. But, putting my tenure-packet together, it's demoralizing how my public/open work doesn't count much at all. I think a good mix works, but is hard to maintain. Your own balance is really exceptional.

The "not counting" part is what really vexes me. I hope we can change this!

My division recently added recognition of public scholarship and service to our tenure and promotion guidelines, but it's not recognized at the school or university level. Incremental change, but a good sign. Also, lead the charge. I'll follow. :)

I think there are those who don't feel like they can opt out, and those who might not know about stuff like that. basically it's all messed up

You're right. Maybe if this discussion - about the politics of publishing - were part of the "professionalization" discussion in grad school? (And I realize I'm not the first or only person to say any of this :)

oh no, but it bears repeating. again and again. a lot of the pd advice is so mixed. we are all beholden to these publishing outlets, and all the systems feed each other. it's a shitty system in which we don't always have choices. sigh.

I think once you've got tenure there's no real excuse not to publish in proper open access journals. And I'm not going to feel smug because I set up and ran an open access journal for 16 years... okay, maybe just a little bit!

you're entitled to that! :)

I think your work for Places, for example, is a really good example of how scholarship should be published and distributed.

Thank you! That means a lot. And my work with Places is so much more fun and meaningful, + the editorial process is so much more helpful, than any fancy journal experience.

It’s called posting it on your website.

Of course. Lots of people, including me, do this. I was referring to the most exploitative of journals. We can play by the tenure rules and still try to avert, as much as possible, those publishers that lock up copyright + overcharge libraries?

I think you’re putting the onus for change on those with the least amount of power in the situation.

I agree, but... Over here in the UK, we need a certain number of items to return for the REF, which certainly rewards for publishing in prestige journals. Our job (prospects) rely on that (For anyone unfamiliar w/it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Excellence_Framework …)

I’ve heard about the REF from some UK friends! US scholars face similar pressures to focus on prestige; lots of the top journals are paywalled

They're paywalled, but their existence relies on free labor from the scholars who publish in them (and whose libraries pay big bucks for access). It's a terrible system.

I’ve provided that free labor on many occasions, and lamented the cost with librarian friends :) Plus, the copyright policies are usually pretty exploitative.