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Scholarly Communications & Publishing

This guide provides an introduction to some of the central topics in scholarly communication and explains the WVU Libraries' services in these areas.

Scholarly Communications & Publishing at the WVU Libraries

The WVU Libraries' offer a number of scholarly communications and publishing services to maximize the impact, reach, and dissemination of your scholarship. This guide provides a general overview of our services, and information to help you effectively manage the dissemination of your research. If you have questions, or would like to schedule a consultation in this areas, contact Jonah McAllister-Erickson, Scholarly Communications Librarian or your subject liaison.

What is Scholarly Communication?

The scholarly communications cycle.Scholarly Communication is, "the system through which research and other scholarly writings are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly community, and preserved for future use. The system includes both formal means of communication, such as publication in peer-reviewed journals, and informal channels, such as electronic listservs.” (Association of College & Research Libraries, “Principles and Strategies for the Reform of Scholarly Communication 1,” 2003).

While publishing may be the most prominent form of scholarly communication, it is important to know that the scholarly communication system and the publishing cycle encompass much more than publishing a work, such as a work's preservation, its reuse, and the manner in which the work is evaluated for quality (e.g. through peer review). Scholarly Communication also includes informal discussions of scholarship that may take place over listservs, blogs, or social media channels.

Image credit: ACRL Scholarly Communication Toolkit (http://acrl.libguides.com/scholcomm/toolkit/), Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Issues in Scholarly Communication

Scholarly Communication covers issues that intersect with a number of different points in the research cycle. Some of the central issues in scholarly communication are:

  • Open Access
  • Author's Rights and Copyright
  • Digital Publishing
  • Open Educational Resources
  • Research Data Management
  • Disciplinary and Institutional repositories

Learn more about Scholarly Communication