Have you ever thought about how you could increase the academic impact and reach of your research among the millions of research papers published every year? Professor Leslie Ponciano of Hope Education Research Solutions did just that with her recent collaboration with Peace4Kids to convert four chapters from her edited book, Reconstructing Perceptions of Systemically Marginalized Groups (by various authors) and another chapter in which she is the author, Mitigating the Impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences: The Peace4Kids Approach in the Post-Pandemic Era from standard to open access.
While all IGI Global journals now publish under open access, IGI Global’s books still operate under a hybrid open access model, meaning that authors and editors have the opportunity to publish either a standard chapter or an open access chapter. Moreover, even if an author or editor initially decides to publish their chapter as open access, they can later revisit and choose to convert their chapter to open access at a discounted processing charge rate. Retrospective open access conversions stand to gain the same benefits, including:
Higher Usage (2-3 Times More Likely to be Read) - Higher Download Rates (89% Higher Download Rates) - Higher Citation Rates (47% More Likely to be Cited)
Prof. Ponciano’s process of converting these chapters to open access began with a donation to Peace4Kids, a non-profit organization that creates a safe community where youth in foster care can thrive and form lasting connections, for the purpose of converting these chapters to open access. This donation acted as a way to support Peace4Kids, of which Prof. Ponciano has a 25-year history with, by sharing their practices and research results collected and analyzed in their partnership. This collaboration with Peace4Kids allowed Prof. Ponciano to make these chapters fully and freely available.
We asked Prof. Ponciano to reflect on this unique opportunity below:
Q: What made you decide to convert these previously standard chapters to open access?
A: We wanted to increase the likelihood that a wide range of professionals would be able to read the chapters, many of whom are not connected to a university library and do not have the resources to pay for access.
Q: What was the process of involving an outside funding source in this conversion process?
A: I have a 25-year history with the non-profit as a volunteer and prior Board Member. For the past decade, I have voluntarily led their research efforts and those findings were the catalyst for the chapters and for the entire book. We had considered crowd-sourcing the funds for the open access conversion but thought that would take a long time and so instead of my usual donation to their operations, we decided to donate to them for the open access fees.
Q: What impact do you believe converting these chapters will have on reach of this research (citation impact, discoverability, usage, etc.)?
A: It will allow us to share the content in the chapters more widely across our networks.
Prof. Ponciano was able to complete these conversions through the unique outlet of a partnership with a non-profit, which many researchers probably aren’t aware they can do. It is recommended that if researchers are interested in converting their previously published works through IGI Global’s retrospective open access program, they contact the appropriate funding office at their institution, organizations, or perhaps through a collaboration such as Prof. Ponciano’s. For more information on where to begin the research for open access funding, please visit IGI Global’s Open Access Funding Resources page or contact IGI Global's Open Access Team at openaccessadmin@igi-global.com.
If interested in beginning the conversion of your previously published work to open access through IGI Global's Personal Library, please view the simple step-by-step process below.
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View Prof. Ponciano's IGI Global Contributions
About Prof. Leslie Ponciano
Prof. Leslie Ponciano - Editor| is the President/Founder of Hope Education Research Solutions where she provides professional development, program evaluation, and efficacy research services. She is also the Director of Research Opportunities for the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office where she mentors research and grant proposal development for 23 CSU campuses. Previously, Dr. Ponciano was the Director of Research & Educational Partnerships for Age of Learning, Inc. where she created an efficacy research division to examine how ABCmouse helps children learn. Dr. Ponciano's held faculty and administrative positions in the Early Childhood Education MA program at Loyola Marymount University, in the Child & Family Studies Department at CSU Los Angeles, and in the Applied Developmental Psychology undergraduate minor program at UCLA. Her researcher is in educational technology, foster care, and early childhood development. Dr. Ponciano received a Psychology BA from University of California (UC) Irvine, a Developmental Psychology MA from Teachers College, Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Psychological Studies in Education at UC Los Angeles.
About Peace4Kids
Peace4Kids is a grassroots, non-profit organization serving youth in foster care. For 25 years, our "Community as Family" has provided consistency, stability, and trust to people of all ages. Peace4Kids guides youth to the discovery that they’re not alone. Nurturing lasting relationships with youth who have experienced the disruptions of foster care gives them the confidence to own their story and to determine how it impacts their lives. Peace4Kids is an intergenerational community that includes adults with a lived care experience and provides unique benefits to both youth and adults as they learn and grow together. There are a variety of opportunities for people with a foster care experience to explore, connect, and lead their life path. From nature expeditions and leadership development to mindfulness workshops, professional networking, and more. There is a Saturday Core Program for youth and teens in foster care, ages 4-19 to develop new friendships, gain mentors, and hone their strengths and assets through highly creative and experiential learning. Family Community Events are held every other month to celebrate youth and community to emphasize our collective strengths, learnings, and accomplishments. Transitional Youth Services offer a community mentoring program that supports young people as they transition to adulthood, including mental and physical health services, job and career support, transitional housing, and self-sufficiency counseling. The Leadership Program/Advocacy Movement implements large-scale projects and inspires others to advocate for themselves, inform others, and create meaningful change. We uplift what is working for generations of foster care alumni so that current youth in care are provided a road map for success.
About IGI Global
Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA with a subsidiary office (IGI Science and Technology, Ltd.) operating out of Beijing, China, IGI Global is a leading medium-sized independent international academic publisher of scholarly reference sources. They are committed to facilitating the discovery of pioneering scientific research that enhances and expands the body of knowledge available to the research community through traditional and open access publishing workflows. Working in close collaboration with more than 200,000+ expert researchers and professionals from leading institutions, IGI Global publishes quality peer-reviewed content in three major academic subject areas:
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