Interviews with editors of library science journals on transitioning to open access

These three files are related to qualitative, semi-structured interviews conducted in Fall 2023 with editors of Library and Information Science (LIS) journals on transitioning to open access. One subgroup consisted of participants who were editors at the time of an LIS journal when it transitioned (or flipped) to an open access model that does not charge a fee to either readers or authors (which this study refers to as equitable open access), and the other subgroup consisted of current editors (at the time) of LIS journals that have not yet transitioned (or unflipped) to an equitable open access model. Two of the files are the interview protocols for each group of flipped and unflipped editors, and the third file is the codebook the researchers used to analyze the interview transcripts. Interview transcripts are not being publicly shared to ensure confidentiality for interview participants.

The interview protocols were created based on the findings of a prior research study:

Borchardt, R., Dawson, D., & Schultz, T. (2024). Financial and other perceived barriers to transitioning to an equitable no-publishing fee open access model: A survey of LIS journal editors. College & Research Libraries, 85(1). https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.85.1.96

The codebook was created iteratively based on the researchers' review and analysis of the interview transcripts.