Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.55
Liaison Susan Powers
Submission Date Feb. 22, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Clarkson University
IN-27: Innovation D

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Susan Powers
Assoc. Dir. Sustainability
ISE
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name or title of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
Faculty research advocates for open access to peer reviewed research

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome that outlines how credit criteria are met and any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation:

As described in STARS AC-11 - open and free access to new peer-reviewed research helps to stimulate learning and innovation, and facilitates the translation of this knowledge into public benefits that advance sustainability. Prof. Jason Schmitt, Clarkson’s Chair of the Communications & Media department is tackling the corporate publishing behemoth head-on to expose the inequities caused by and profits enabled by big publishing house journals that control most peer reviewed publications. Schmitt’s application of his communications and media scholarship exposes a system that limits the equitable access of scholarly research and is an excellent example of innovation in academic scholarship and public engagement related to sustainability. Because of the presentation of this work in a highly accessible manner, Paywall has a significant opportunity to transform the corporate and profit-oriented approach to academic publishing, thereby increasing universal access to the state or scholarly knowledge. The film has been screened publicly at the United Nations, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, British Library, and over 340 locations around the world and has had 140,000 views of our film online (as of 2/9/19). Although campus policies related to open access are included in STARS, this type of scholarly work and public engagement is beyond the standard points, included in research (AC-11) and public engagement.
Information about the documentary “Paywall: The Business of Scholarship,” is available from a Clarkson press release, the movie’s website, and a blog on the subject on Science (AAAS) web site.


Which of the following impact areas does the innovation most closely relate to? (select up to three):
Research
Public Engagement

A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise or a press release or publication featuring the innovation :
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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