Informing the knowledge economy: Options for extending the reach of research

Access to published research remains a hot topic, particularly in the areas of medicine and science. There are many advantages to making research findings widely available for stakeholders in scientific advances, including clinicians, scientists, educators, students, entrepreneurs, and the public. Sharing new information adds to the knowledge economy, a dynamic source of new ideas that fuels advances in research, care, education, and business.

To extend the reach of spinal cord research, our publisher offers options to authors who publish in the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine (JSCM). JSCM, the official journal of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals (ASCIP), is a hybrid journal in the Taylor & Francis Group, a major UK-based publisher. Hybrid refers to a traditional, subscription-based journal with added options for open access. Taylor & Francis defines this category as Open Select.¹

JSCM’s content, online and print, is freely accessible to ASCIP members, and for a fee via non-member journal subscriptions and article downloads – the traditional model. For Open Select journals, Taylor & Francis offers additional options called Gold OA and Green OA. For a one-time article publishing charge (APC) Gold OA provides permanent free online access to the published article, called the version of record, enabling authors to share their work in any way. In some instances, funding or discounts for APCs may be available, and authors are encouraged to explore their eligibility. Of note, the two JSCM articles that were published last year with Gold OA are ranked second and third among JSCM’s top downloads for 2017, an indication of higher visibility.^2,3 With Green OA, JSCM authors may share their accepted manuscripts on their personal websites and social media channels, and include a link to their version of record.

On behalf of all authors, Taylor & Francis works to ensure compliance with the open access policies of many nations and consortiums, and offers a range of choices for licensing and copyright agreements. Every author and co-author receives 50 free eprints, which they are encouraged to utilize to promote their article to their professional network.⁴ To further support the dissemination of important work, Taylor & Francis provides access to article-level metrics,⁵ and highlights top-cited articles, top-downloads and those with top altmetrics scores.

Now in its fifth decade, JSCM continues to inform the knowledge economy, where people and ideas connect to develop new ways to improve the lives of people with injury and disease of the spinal cord. Progress is being made but many challenges remain. Extending the reach of JSCM’s content is a step toward overcoming these challenges.