Introduction

Some situations (eg BIOS limitations, or this GRUB bug) may require to create a separate /boot partition at the start of the disk, and setup Ubuntu to use it.

Here is how to do it very easily:

Procedure

Step 1 - Boot on a liveCD or liveUSB

Boot your computer either on:

- a Linux-Secure-Remix liveCD or liveUSB, then choose "Try Ubuntu", then go directly to Step 3 below.

- or a Ubuntu live-CD or live-USB, choose "Try Ubuntu", then go to Step 2 below.

Step 2 - Install Boot-Repair in the live-session

Once in the Ubuntu live session, install Boot-Repair this way:

• Connect internet
• Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and type :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair

Step 3 - Run gParted

Launch gParted from either:

- the Dash (Ubuntu 11.04 and next): click the Ubuntu logo in the top-left corner of the screen, then type gparted and click on the gParted icon that will appear.

- or System->Administration->gParted menu (Ubuntu 10.04)

- or by typing gksudo gparted in a terminal

Step 4 - Create a 1GB partition at the start of the disk

Via gParted:

- Reduce one of the first partitions of the disk in order to create 1GB (=1000MiB) of free space at the start of the disk where Ubuntu is installed. This free space must be located inside the first 100GB of the disk (its end must not be located at more than 100GB from the start of the disk). Important: to resize Windows Vista/7/8 partitions, don't use gParted but Windows tools instead.

- In this free space, create a 1GB partition formatted in EXT4.

- On a paper, note the name of this new 1GB partition. This is generally something like /dev/sdXY (X is a letter, Y is a number).

Step 5 - Run Boot-Repair

Launch Boot-Repair from either:

- the Dash (Ubuntu 11.04 and next): click the Ubuntu logo in the top-left corner of the screen, then type boot and click on the Boot-Repair icon that will appear.

- or System->Administration->Boot-Repair menu (Ubuntu 10.04)

- or by typing boot-repair in a terminal

Step 6 - Choose the right option

In Boot-Repair:

- Click on Advanced Options

- Go to the GRUB location tab

- Tick the "Separate /boot partition: sdXY" option (sdXY must be your 1GB partition)

- Click "Apply"

- Note on a paper the URL (paste.ubuntu.com/XXXXXX/) that will appear.

- Shutdown the computer

- Remove the liveCD and/or liveUSB

- Start the computer. You should now be able to boot into Ubuntu.

Remarks

- if you need help, please create your new own thread here (don't forget to indicate the URL you noted on your paper at Step6, this will give valuable information to understand your problem)

External Links

- Discussion thread on ubuntuforums for any question/comment about this tutorial. (this is not a thread for support)

- HOW to install Ubuntu on a big disk

You may want to follow this guide to gather essential troubleshooting information about your sound card. This information will be useful in posting a question to launchpad and getting help from volunteers who are monitoring the Launchpad forums:

• https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/

The various different pages about sound issues each serve a different purpose or different tastes. OpenSource systems are about freedom OF choice so it's good that people are able to choose which pages they use.

The only supported releases of Ubuntu are the ones that are NOT End of Life (EOL) in the following table:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Step 1

Please exercise caution when running these commands! Carefully read and understand what they do. For instance, the  sudo apt-get install  command includes the entire Ubuntu desktop. This will likely create problems for users of the other flavors of Ubuntu -- a Kubuntu user would not want the Unity interface installed. While the outcome of running the suggested command string below may indeed fix certain sound problems, be aware that it is a very blunt approach and could result in unintended consequences.

#1A. If you are using Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS (Precise Pangolin) or later, try this first:

killall pulseaudio; rm -r ~/.config/pulse/* ; rm -r ~/.pulse*

wait ten seconds, then run this:

pulseaudio -k 

#1B. Should the approach above fail to correct the problem (it is only known to work on some variations), you can try this next. If you are using Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS (Precise Pangolin) or later:

killall pulseaudio; rm -r ~/.config/pulse/* ; rm -r ~/.pulse*

wait 10 seconds, then reboot (putting the machine to sleep is not enough -- fully power it off and then back on). Make sure to save your work first.

#1C. If that still did not help, please proceed...

If you are using Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS (Precise Pangolin) or Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (trusty), then execute this command and reboot:

sudo apt-get update;sudo apt-get dist-upgrade; sudo apt-get install pavucontrol linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils lightdm ubuntu-desktop  linux-image-`uname -r` libasound2; sudo apt-get -y --reinstall install linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils lightdm ubuntu-desktop  linux-image-`uname -r` libasound2; killall pulseaudio; rm -r ~/.pulse*; ubuntu-support-status; sudo usermod -aG `cat /etc/group | grep -e '^pulse:' -e '^audio:' -e '^pulse-access:' -e '^pulse-rt:' -e '^video:' | awk -F: '{print $1}' | tr '\n' ',' | sed 's:,$::g'` `whoami`

Concerning Ubuntu releases older than Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise), please read this:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Step 2

In the Ubuntu Terminal console , make sure that unlimited scrolling is enabled:

• click on Edit > Profiles > "Default" profile > Scrolling. Choose "Unlimited" as scrolling option. Click Close and Close again.

If you are using the Gnome interface, open the Terminal console via "Applications->Accessories->Terminal"

If you are using the Unity interface, the easiest way to open the Terminal is to use the 'search' function on the dash. Or you can click on the 'More Apps' button, click on the 'See more results' by the installed section, and find it in that list of applications. A third way, available after you click on the 'More Apps' button, is to go to the search bar, and see that the far right end of it says 'All Applications'. You then click on that, and you'll see the full list. Then you can go to Accessories > Terminal after that.

So the methods in Unity are:

Press CTRL-ALT-T key combination.

Dash > Search for Terminal

Dash > More Apps > 'See More Results' > Terminal

Dash > More Apps > Accessories > Terminal

Step 3

Reboot your computer. Then run the following 2 diagnostic commands.

Tip: If you have a wheel mouse or 3-button mouse, you do not need to type the commands into the Terminal. Instead, copy the commands from this web page and paste them into the terminal. To do this, move your mouse cursor over the start of the command written on the Web page. Then press the left mouse button and drag the mouse till the end of the command to highlight the whole command; then release the mouse button. Then press the middle mouse button or mouse wheel anywhere inside the Terminal. The command should now be printed in the Terminal without errors. Now press <Enter> to execute the command.

wget -O alsa-info.sh http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh && chmod +x ./alsa-info.sh && ./alsa-info.sh

Post the full Terminal output after the script has actually run by creating a new question in launchpad then copy&paste the terminal output into your newly created question. Carefully inspect the Terminal output of the ALSA Information script that was generated by the previous diagnostic command

bash alsa-info.sh --stdout

After upgrading ALSA and rebooting the computer make sure that the ALSA library version and utilities version are exactly the same version number.

The Terminal output after running the ALSA information script should contain something like this:

# ALSA Version

# Driver version: 1.0.25 (if you are running Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS (Precise Pangolin))

# Library version: 1.0.25 (if you are running Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS (Precise Pangolin))

# Utilities version: 1.0.25 (if you are running Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS (Precise Pangolin))

If the Library and Utilities version numbers are not equal, this is probably due to one or more of the following issues:

1. One of the ALSA components was not successfully upgraded during step 1 in this procedure

2. ALSA was correctly installed or upgraded, but a wrong / old kernel was booted instead of the most recent kernel version. In that case, boot the newest kernel version (that is available in the standard/default Ubuntu repositories) and then retest sound.

For example: if you installed or upgraded to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise), make sure the running kernel version is 3.2.0-23-generic or higher. Or else sound output/input will not work!

You can check the currently running kernel version by running this command:

uname -r

If the ALSA driver version number in the Terminal output does NOT contain anything at all, please execute the following commands, then reboot and retest sound output using headphones and speakers:

If you are using GNU/Linux kernel version 3.2, 3.13 or 3.16, please run these 4 commands:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev/alsa-daily

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install linux-image-extra-`uname -r`

sudo apt-get install --reinstall linux-image-extra-`uname -r`  

If you are using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, please also run this extra command:

sudo apt-get install oem-audio-hda-daily-dkms

If you are using Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn), please also run this extra command:

sudo apt-get install  oem-audio-hda-daily-lts-utopic-dkms 

If you are using Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet), please also run this extra command:

sudo apt-get install oem-audio-hda-daily-lts-vivid-dkms 

Then reboot and retest sound output.

Source: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/UpgradingAlsa/DKMS

Step 4

Copy & paste the following diagnostic command into the Linux Terminal, then press <Enter>. The command starts with the command cat and ends with the word sound. (Do not copy & paste this diagnostic command from an email message into the Terminal, as that will only copy part of the command.) When asked for your password, type your normal user password (no stars are given as you type); then press <Enter> again.

Tip: If you have a wheel mouse or 3-button mouse, you do not need to type the commands into the Terminal. Instead, copy the commands from this web page and paste them into the terminal. To do this, move your mouse cursor over the start of the command written on the Web page. Then press the left mouse button and drag the mouse till the end of the command to highlight the whole command; then release the mouse button. Then press the middle mouse button or mouse wheel anywhere inside the Terminal. The command should now be printed in the Terminal without errors. Now press <Enter> to execute the command.

cat /proc/asound/{version,cards,devices,hwdep,pcm,seq/clients}; sudo rm /etc/asound.conf; sudo rm -r ~/.pulse ~/.asound* ;sudo rm ~/.pulse-cookie; sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install aptitude; sudo aptitude install paman gnome-alsamixer libasound2-plugins padevchooser libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio; sudo lshw -short;ls -lart /dev/snd; find /lib/modules/`uname -r` | grep snd ;cat /dev/sndstat; lspci -nn; lsusb; sudo which alsactl; sudo fuser -v /dev/dsp /dev/snd/* ; dpkg -S bin/slmodemd; dmesg | egrep 'EMU|probe|emu|ALSA|alsa|ac97|udi|snd|ound|irmware'; sudo /etc/init.d/sl-modem-daemon status; sudo grep model /etc/modprobe.d/* ; sudo dmidecode|egrep 'anufact|roduct|erial|elease'; lsmod | egrep 'snd|usb|midi|udio'; pacmd list-sinks; aplay -l; sudo alsa force-reload;  ubuntu-support-status ; sudo lshw -C sound

• Post the full Terminal output into the original question that you previously created at answers.launchpad.net
• Also mention how you want to generate sound output: analog output via desktop speakers, digital output via an HDMI connection to the TV, via headphones, etc ...

Step 5

Reboot and retest sound using the headphones and the speakers. Do not run a Gnome session in "Gnome Failsafe" mode; speakers are disabled in "Gnome Failsafe" mode.

• After rebooting, verify that you have posted the full Terminal output from step 3 and step 4 into the original question that you previously created at answers.launchpad.net
• Also mention how you want to generate sound output: analog output via desktop speakers, digital output via an HDMI connection to the TV, via headphones, etc ...

Step 6

Sometimes the playback device is muted by default. To fix this problem, you need to run

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

then run the pavucontrol program from a terminal or by pressing Alt-F2 and typing

pavucontrol

in the box that appears.

In this application - PulseAudio Volume Control - look through the tabs and see if either the input or output device is muted. You can tell by whether the little mute icon appears depressed or not. You may also need to change the ALSA plug setting from "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo" to an alternative audio device that is listed there. Switch to the "Playback" tab and increase System sounds volume to 100%.

Step 7

Run the following command in a Terminal:

alsamixer

In this application, make sure to set all channels to high volume levels. Make sure the different speakers (especially 'Front', 'Master', and 'PCM") are NOT muted and NOT set to low volume levels in alsamixer. Move with the left and right keys on your keyboard until the "Master" item is highlighted (in red). If the letters "MM" are displayed under the volume bar, press "M" to unmute. Repeat with the "Master Mono", "Headphone", "PCM", "Front", "Surround", "Center" and "LFE" items. Press Esc when finished.

If HDMI output has stopped working, muting and then unmuting the SPDIF output in alsamixer can cause the sound to start working again

If you are not using HDMI at all for sound output or video output, try disabling HDMI in the BIOS. It might solve your analog audio output issue.

On some Toshiba laptop models (T40, T43p, ... R51e ...), the audio is muted, if either Headphone or Line Jack are NOT muted in alsamixer. See also ALSA Wiki FAQ [1]. Also, if Headphone Sense or Line Jack Sense are unmuted, audio is dead (R52, X40). By default the Sense settings are not shown in GNOME. A channel is muted in alsamixer, if there is an "MM" under that specific channel/volume bar.

On some Toshiba laptop models, setting the PCM channel volume higher than 70% in alsamixer, may result in clipping (for example: very "harsh" and distorted sound both on the internal speakers and on headphones plug), regardless of the Master channel.

Problem with audio clipping

HP Laptops in the dv5, dv6, dv7 series and some HP Mini netbook computers have a strange problem in Ubuntu. When you plug in the headphones, you will hear sound via the headphones and speakers at the same time. The following link should provide a workaround for that issue:

Problem with headphones

On the HP Compaq nx8220, you can solve the simultaneous speaker/headphone output issue by enabling the Headphone Jack Sense option in the alsamixer application.

Step 8

Report if you cannot hear sound through the speakers, the headphones or cannot hear sound on both.

Step 9

If you are using a dual boot system (even with Windows and Ubuntu installed on separate partitions), then make sure to set the sound volume in Windows to a high level before booting into Ubuntu. Also make sure to use the special function keys in Windows to make sure the loudspeakers are physically switched ON and working properly in Windows before installing and testing Ubuntu. This step is necessary with certain Toshiba Tecra laptops.

Step 10

Run the command gnome-volume-control and set the Sound Theme to "No sounds". The Sound Theme tool is also accessible via System > Preferences > Sound

Step 11

Try connecting headphones to different audio jacks/ports on the back-panel of the sound-card until you hopefully hear sound. Make sure to test ALL audio jacks/ports at the front AND the back of your PC.

If sound is not working in both Windows and Ubuntu, please check your motherboard's manual to see if any jumpers are badly configured or missing. Some motherboards require you to add or reconfigure the jumpers on the motherboard to allow the rear panel sound connections to work.

If you are using a laptop, it is also possible that the headphone jack is broken. Try poking into the headphone jack with a toothpick to see if it helps getting sound output working via the speakers.

Step 12

If ALSA is still not loading any driver for your soundcard (for example: a Soundblaster Audigy PCI card) after upgrading to the newest version of ALSA, try reseating the PCI audio card into a different PCI slot on your PC's motherboard.

Step 13

Specify the exact model and make of your PC (if possible) in the new thread that you created at Launchpad Answers Forum.

Step 14

If you want to enable S/PDIF audio output, then unmute and increase volume on the S/PDIF and S/PDIF playback channels in the alsamixer application. Use the M key to toggle between muted (MM) and unmuted (00) states.

Alternative way to enable SPDIF output automatically on login (tested on SoundBlaster Audigy): add following lines to /etc/rc.local:

 # Use COAX-digital output
 amixer set 'IEC958 Optical' 100 unmute
 amixer set 'Audigy Analog/Digital Output Jack' on

You can see the name of your card's digital output with:

amixer scontrols

If the optical/coaxial digital output of your motherboard/sound card is not working or stopped working, and you have already enabled and unmuted it in alsamixer, run

sudo iecset audio on

You can also put this command in /etc/rc.local , as it may stop working after a reboot.

Step 15

In the BIOS, reset the BIOS values to default values.

If such an option exists, change the onboard audio setting in the BIOS from "auto" to "enabled".

If such an option exists, make sure BIOS option "Speakers and Headphones" is set to "enabled"

If you happen to have two sound-cards installed in your pc, one integrated into the motherboard - for example: an hda-intel audiochip - and one inserted into a PCI slot, then try removing the PCI audio card, reboot your pc and retest sound using only the motherboard's on-board audio chip.

If you absolutely need to get the PCI audio card working, try disabling the motherboard's on-board audio chip via the BIOS. Then retest sound in Ubuntu.

Save the change in the BIOS and reboot.

If this does not help, please update the BIOS to the newest version and then retest sound output.

Updating the BIOS may help.

Step 16

If the HDMI output of your motherboard/sound card is not working or stopped working, and have already enabled and unmuted it in alsamixer, try the following HDMI troubleshooting procedure:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iTlJ8BfqXUjaHO__TEdlkvuqB1WLOkGaudngc5SFLMI/edit#bookmark=id.2rzn5uz8d2h4

Query for Playback Devices:

aplay -l

• *** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices **** card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog]
  • Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital]
  • Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  • Subdevices: 0/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Now that we have the info for the HDMI device, try a test, In the example below, 0 is the card number and 3 is the device number.

aplay -D plughw:0,3 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav

If aplay does not output any errors, but still no sound is heared, "reboot" the receiver, monitor or tv set. Since the HDMI interface executes a handshake on connection, it might have noticed before that there was no audio stream embedded, and disabled audio decoding.

If the test is successful, edit/create /etc/asound.conf to set HDMI as the default audio device, reboot, and audio should now work. (Is there a better way to do this?)

cat /etc/asound.conf

• pcm.!default {
  • type plug slave.pcm {
    • type hw card 0 device 3
    }
  }

Other Useful Information to Quote

The following configuration line needs to be added to the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file

options snd-hda-intel model=auto 

Valid model names (that replace model option 'auto') depending on the codec chip, can be found in "HD-Audio ALSA documentation" and HD-Audio-Models ALSA documentation".

!!ONLY test one model option at a time in the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file!!

First try adding the configuration line

options snd-hda-intel model=auto 

to the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file. Then reboot and retest audio.

You can find your audio CODEC chip name by running this Terminal command:

cat /proc/asound/car*/co* |  grep Codec

Please try the following command instead, if the previous command does not show the audio CODEC chip name:

cat /proc/asound/car*/co*/* |  head

You can find your audio MIXER name by running this Terminal command:

cd ~; wget -O alsa-info.sh http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh ; bash alsa-info.sh --stdout |grep "ixer name"

You can find your audio DEVICE name by running this Terminal command:

lspci -nn|egrep 'ultimedia|udio|sound|AC97|ac97|EMU'

Each combination of audio codec, audio mixer and audio device name requires a very specific configuration in the alsa-base.conf file, if the audio chipset does not work out-of-the-box.

To see if there is more than one alsactl executable in your path and to remove the wrong/oldest one, copy&paste the following command into a Terminal and press the <enter> key:

sudo which alsactl

Having more than one alsactl can cause your sound settings to be muted during every boot of the Ubuntu system.

To understand the various hda_intel related errors that might be mentioned at the end of the ALSA Information script output that was uploaded to the Pastebin website, read the following documentation:

HD-Audio ALSA documentation

HD-Audio-Models ALSA documentation

Also compare the PCI subsystem ID (for example: 1028:0510) in the ALSA Terminal output with the SND_PCI_QUIRK values (for example: SND_PCI_QUIRK(0x1028, 0x0510, "Dell Vostro", CXT5066_IDEAPAD ) in the link below, in order to determine the right model option to use (for example: model=ideapad) in the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file:

PCI quirk values for ALSA

Also search for the VendorID (for example: 0x111d7695) of your sound card's codec by entering - for example - the search term

0x111d7695 site:github.com

in Google to see if the newest Linux kernel supports that specific audio codec.

!!ONLY test one model option at a time in the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file!!

Debugging utilities for advanced users of Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS (Precise Pangolin) (or newer versions)

http://voices.canonical.com/tag/pulseaudio/

External Links for advanced users

You can download and compile the newest alsa-lib, alsa-utils, alsa-tools, alsa-plugins, alsa-python versions (v1.0.27) here using "git clone":

* http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/GIT_Server

Interesting details about the ALSA v1.0.27 components are here:

* http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Changes_v1.0.26_v1.0.27

Be sure to compile and test the hdajackretask tool, which is part of alsa-tools v1.0.26. Very handy correction tool if ALSA driver v1.0.25 does not correctly assign sound processing tasks to the hda pin nodes for your sound card's audio codec.

For some initial suggestions, also read the following pages

* http://itsfoss.com/fix-sound-ubuntu-1304-quick-tip/

* http://voices.canonical.com/tag/pulseaudio/

* http://www.webupd8.org/2013/03/install-pulseaudio-with-built-in-system.html

* http://voices.canonical.com/david.henningsson/2013/01/18/upcoming-changes-to-the-intel-hda-drivers/

* https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems

* http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Precise#Sound

* https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio

* https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SurroundSound

* https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iTlJ8BfqXUjaHO__TEdlkvuqB1WLOkGaudngc5SFLMI/edit#bookmark=id.2rzn5uz8d2h4

* https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HdaIntelSoundHowto

* http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1455816

* http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=HOW-TO_set_up_HDMI_audio_on_nVidia_GeForce_G210,_GT220,_or_GT240

* http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture

* http://drowninginbugs.blogspot.com/2009/10/caveats-for-audio-in-910.html

* http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578&highlight=audacity

* http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=205449

* http://www.ubuntugeek.com/sound-solutions-for-ubuntu-904-jaunty-users.html

* https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshooting

Check for correct /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf options on the following pages:

* https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio-Models.txt

* http://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio-Models.txt

* https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound.git/tree/Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio-Models.txt

* https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/sound/alsa/ALSA-Configuration.txt

* http://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/sound/alsa/ALSA-Configuration.txt

* https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound.git/tree/Documentation/sound/alsa/ALSA-Configuration.txt

* https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/sound/alsa/

* http://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/sound/alsa/

* http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1043568

* http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/audio_intel_hda

CategoryAudio

We put a man on the moon about half a century ago yet we still haven’t solved the problem of access to the scientific literature.

“moonstruck” CC-BY Adnan Islam on Flickr

I was invited to speak at the New Zealand Association of Scientists meeting this year. The theme was “Science and Society” and I was asked to speak about Open Access from that perspective.

The timing was really good. Lincoln University published their Open Access Policy last year, Waikato University released their Open Access mandate a couple of weeks ago, and the University of Auckland is examining their position around Open Access. New Zealand is catching up.

I opened my talk by referring to the New Zealand Education Act which outlines the role of univeristies:

“…a university is characterised by a wide diversity of teaching and research, especially at a higher level, that maintains, advances, disseminates, and assists the application of, knowledge, develops intellectual independence, and promotes community learning”
[New Zealand Education Act (1989) Section162.4.b.iii] (emphasis mine)

I argued that those values could be best met by making the research outputs available under Open Access as defined by by the Budapest Open Access Initiative, that is, not limited to “access” but equally importantly, allowing re-use.

After summarising the elements of the Creative Commons licences that can support Open Access publishing, I invited the audience to have an open conversation with their communities of practice to examine what values each place on how to share the results of our work.

My position is that the more broadly we disseminate our findings the more likely we will achieve the goals set out by the NZ Education Act to maintain, advance, assist in the application of knowledge, develop intellectual independence and promote community learning. I am also of the position that this is what should be rewarded in academic circles. I think that. as a community , we should move away from looking for value in the branding of the research article (i.e., where it is published) and focus instead on measuring the actual quality and impact of the research within and outside the academic community.

How do we measure quality and impact?

cc-by aussiegall on Flickr

At times I feel we have we become lazy. We often stick to using impact factor as a proxy for quality instead of interrogating the research outputs to understand their contribution and impact. Impact factor may be an easy metric – but it is not one that measures in any way the quality or impact of an individual article, let alone of the researchers who authored it. It is just an easy way out, a number we can quickly look at so we can tick the right box. As a metric it is easy, quick and objective. As a metric of value of an individual piece of work it is also useless and, because of that, it inevitably lacks fairness in research assessment.

What does this have to do with OA?

By the end of the conference I couldn’t shake the thought that the barriers to Open Access may not be financial and the costs of publication fees may be the least of our problems. (This issue of cost just keeps coming up.) I can’t but wonder if the cost Open Access might just be a red herring that lets us avoid the real (and bigger) issue: quality assessment. Open Access may help our articles have a wider reach but, except for a few titles, Open Access journals are not recognisable brands. If we are forced to stop looking at the “journal brand” we will be forced to assess the individual articles for their intrinsic value and impact. And, although it may lead to better, more valid, assessment, it is also a big and difficult job.

A lot of what was said today at the conference revolved about the value of New Zealand science (and scientists) to society and the importance of science communication. We spoke about the importance of evidence-based policy, the need to be the critic and conscious of society and the challenges of working with the public to build a trust in scientific evidence despite its uncertainties. We expect politicians and society to do the hard job of making decisions based on evidence. I couldn’t help but ask whether we, as a community of scientists, can live up to those standards.

Can we ditch the bad and easy for the good and hard?

We put a man on the moon. Solving the issues around open access and research assessment must certainly be easier to solve. Are we ready to put our money where our mouth is?

• Brenda Barron

Brenda Barron is a writer from southern California. Her work has appeared on sites like Elegant Themes, WPMU DEV, and VentureBeat. She also blogs at Digital Inkwell about the life of a freelance blogger.

Disclosure: Some of the links included in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on the link and purchase the item, we may receive an affiliate commission. All opinions on this page are our own and we don't receive payments for positive reviews.

• January 7, 2016
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