Document Type
Presentation
Original Presentation Date
2026
Date of Submission
October 2026
Abstract
University libraries in the United States play a critical and growing role in supporting open access (OA) scholarly journals, yet the labor required to sustain these publications—who performs it, how much time it demands, and how it is compensated—remains underexamined.
Recent research by Lange & Severson examined labor in Canadian non-commercial independent journals, providing valuable insights into editorial structures and compensation models in that national context. However, their study did not include journals hosted or published by U.S. university libraries. To expand this conversation and develop evidence to support local decision-making, the presenters conducted a complementary research study focused specifically on U.S. members of the Library Publishing Coalition. Our study mirrors Lange & Severson’s methodological approach to allow for direct comparison between the two countries.
This presentation will share early findings from the U.S. survey and highlight noteworthy similarities and differences between U.S. and Canadian journal labor structures. By offering concrete data about how editorial labor is distributed and supported, our goal is to equip library publishers with evidence they can use to shape their service models, advocate for staffing and funding, and better understand the sustainability needs of the journals they support.
Accessibility Note
Content is digitally accessible 2026
Rights
© 2026 Karen Bjork, Annie Johnson, and Johanna Meetz
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Is Part Of
VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations
Comments
Presented at the 2026 Library Publishing Forum in Seattle, Washington.