Overview
The academic publishing industry has practiced a business model for decades that caters to "Big Publishing." In this model, large, for-profit publishers dominate and nearly monopolize the academic industry. Universities pay large subscription fees to journals, coming out of student tuition dollars, while those not affiliated with Universities pay hundreds of dollars per article. Professors contribute their research, and sometimes money, to publish their work, while peer reviewers are also unpaid. This system allows large publishers to generate profit margins over 40%. Bigger publishers appear to be more prestigious; however, smaller journals are equally peer-reviewed but lack popularity. We were tasked with finding a business model that alleviates pain points of authors and publishers, is reputable, and can gain brand-recognition.
Initial Survey
We surveyed current UNC undergraduate students to gain an understanding of students' prior knowledge of the publishing industry.
Through this survey, we found that a majority of students surveyed utilized the UNC library subscriptions to access articles. Only 18.5% of students were aware of smaller, open access journals.
User Interviews: Librarians
We interviewed Nancy Lovas and Angela Bardeen, the Entrepreneurship and Psychology Librarians at UNC Chapel Hill.
Through our conversations, we learned that despite the high cost of purchasing journal subscriptions or individual articles, there are a few central reasons why large, for-profit journals are utilized so frequently in academia.
Prototyping Process
Since open access is mainly focusing on e-journals, we decided a website was the best method for our first prototype. AccessPro is an online directory for open access articles. There is no cost to the user and we operate as a non-profit. We will charge independent publishers a low operating cost.
Focus Group Survey
After surveying a focus group, we found that most people enjoyed our prototype. We noted concerns with the level of interactiveness and attractiveness from our surveyors. We also learned that our product could be improved by providing access for different IP addresses and offering additional education on open access. After deliberation, we agreed that providing this access would increase the usage of our product. We were pleased to find out that about 71% of people surveyed would use our product, and about 29% of people surveyed might use our product.
Follow Up Feedback
- Agreed that advertising on social media is an adequate method since most university students use social media.
- Suggested altering the website to look more visually pleasing (universal fonts, etc.)
- Agreed that they would use this resource.
- Implied that the educational aspect of the website gives user the necessary insight to understand the necessity of open access.
- Liked the changes with IP addresses so that it is easier to use within a university system.
Video and Audio
We created a video to give an overview of the problem that was presented, our solution, and why our solution is beneficial.
Our audio gives insight on why we got started, the process of creating our solution, difficulties we faced, and our overall conclusion.
Final presentation link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YPXGz8ZzNvRp7djfB-IFl8xvFFWf41Lg/view?usp=sharing.
Credits:
Created with images by Hermann - "books stack literature" • geralt - "wisdom books education" • stux - "computer workstation computer screens" • Pexels - "concept man papers" • geralt - "industry industry 4 web" • Hermann - "books literature knowledge"