OU Libraries Monthly Feature: Profiles in Open Featuring Belinda Biscoe
“Profiles in Open” regularly features OU scholars who advocate for open access and make their work openly accessible, benefitting authors, readers, funders, the public, and others. Check out this month’s profile of Belinda Biscoe.
Belinda P. Biscoe, Ph.D. serves as the Senior Associate Vice President for Outreach in the College of Continuing Education at the University of Oklahoma. Additionally, she bears responsibility for the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies at the University of Oklahoma, which annually plans, hosts, and administers the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE). NCORE, with support from OU Libraries, publishes the interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal, the Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity (JCSCORE), for which Dr. Biscoe is Founding Editor. JCSCORE is committed to promoting an exchange of ideas that can transform lives, enhance learning, and improve human relations in higher education.
Why is open access important to you and/or your organization?
As founding editor of the Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity (JCSCORE) in higher education, open access, for me, equals equity. One of our goals is to leverage the journal as a mechanism for creating a rich exchange of dialogue and ideas among researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and everyday folks about how we open doors of opportunity for diverse and underrepresented groups in higher education by removing barriers and structural inequities. Additionally, The Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies, under Outreach/College of Continuing Education at the University of Oklahoma, annually plans, hosts, and administers the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) in Higher Education, which has attendees representing over 1,200 institutions of higher education, as well as attendees representing other groups outside of higher education. JCSCORE has become an excellent platform for those engaged in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) research and other work to submit articles for publications addressing a range of difficult topics and issues impacting higher education. One recent article received 10,635 views. JCSCORE allows conference attendees and others to keep a spotlight on DEI issues after the conference ends. Because JCSCORE is an open access journal, attendees can share this important information and research with their friends and colleagues upon returning to their home institutions and organizations.
Open access affords academics and everyday people to have research available at no cost. Consequently, we reach a broader readership and have the potential to impact communities beyond the academy. Anyone with internet services, whether through a private provider or through public libraries, can retrieve open access publications at no charge. This research, which has been peer-reviewed, is more likely to be shared on social media and therefore reaches more audiences. Having information on social media, which has been vetted and is credible helps with promoting more sound science not only to academics, but to the public.
In publicly funded universities, it is especially important that everyone has access to published research since public dollars help support our institutions and the resulting research. A challenge with research, especially in education, is moving research into practice with more rapidity. Practitioners are often unaware of evidence-based practices and emerging trends and issues in a discipline because they sometimes don’t access journal articles requiring a subscription. By the time educational research reaches the field new research is emerging. This lag in research to practice often prevents the field of education from realizing desired outcomes. In Outreach/College of Continuing Education, we focus on the life-long learner, individuals who are thirsty for knowledge throughout every stage of their life. Open access allows life-long learners to have a continual repository of quality information at their disposal, since knowledge is constantly changing. Finally, in my research and work I collaborate with others to net the best benefits for communities, groups, and organizations. Open access to scholarly work encourages more cross-disciplinary collaboration in the academy leading to new discoveries and solutions addressing human and societal needs resulting in broader impacts.
Do you have any specific advice for scholars who want to make their work openly available?
As is the case with everything, there are pros and cons. First the pros-- I understand that publishing in an open access journal allows authors to maintain the copyright on their original work. This eliminates asking permission to share original publications beyond the journal. Next, more audiences can be reached, thereby expanding readership. Publishing in an open access journal also increases the likelihood that more people can find and cite your work, thus resulting in having greater impact. On a cautionary note—make sure that the open access journal meets a high standard; this includes a peer-review process, being respected by those in the field and being indexed in reputable directories.
Do you feel like you received the support you needed from OU Libraries when you published?
Staff at OU Libraries has provided amazing support. They are great communicators, exceptionally responsive to questions, address any issues that arise, and work with us as a team. We honestly can’t ask for better assistance. Your support helps contribute to JCSCORE’s success. THANK YOU SO MUCH!