Reducing barriers nets Raj Bhala 2024 Shulenburger Award

LAWRENCE — Raj Bhala is working to reduce economical and geographical boundaries for legal scholarship. Spurred on by a desire to increase affordability for students and to broaden access for international colleagues shut out by costly paywalls, Bhala worked with a team at KU Libraries to openly publish his widely used textbook on international trade law. 

This work has earned Bhala the 2024 David Shulenburger Award for Innovation & Advocacy in Scholarly Communication from the libraries’ Shulenburger Office of Scholarly Communication & Copyright. The Brenneisen Distinguished Professor in KU’s School of Law, Bhala was granted the award as part of KU Libraries' celebration of International Open Access Week. 

Bhala worked with KU Libraries to publish the sixth edition of “International Trade Law: A Comprehensive E-Textbook Volumes 1 – 8” via KU ScholarWorks in May. The expanded edition, containing more than 6,000 pages, is free and openly accessible to anyone.  

"Dr. Bhala is keenly aware that access to legal research is not equal,” said Marianne Reed, KU Libraries Digital Publishing & Repository manager, who worked with Bhala on the project. “He is frequently contacted by legal scholars in other countries who would like to read his research or use his textbooks but cannot because articles are behind journal paywalls or because his commercially published textbooks are prohibitively priced.” 

According to award nomination materials, Bhala has heard stories of students struggling to make ends meet while accessing required course materials. Previous editions of the textbook ranged in cost from $175 in digital format to $265 in print, or over $2,000 for all eight volumes.  

“Excessive textbook costs pose a significant challenge for law students, so efforts like this represent a tangible way to help students focus more on the course material and less on their book budget,” said Chris Steadham, director of Wheat Law Library, in a recent story on the collaboration. 

In the first two months following publication, Bhala's open access e-textbook was downloaded more than 2,000 times. His work joins more than 30,000 items in KU ScholarWorks, contributing to the libraries’ open education resources and initiatives that account for an estimated $1.1 million in cost savings annually for KU students. 

“Bhala's long-term commitment to open access publishing, combined with his new e-textbook, will impact not only students and professionals today but also future generations across the globe who choose to pursue the study of law,” the awards selection committee cited in its recommendation. 

Established in 2014 through a gift by Shulenburger, former KU provost and executive vice chancellor, the award recognizes KU faculty, staff, students and academic departments who champion open access and innovation in scholarly communication. The Shulenburger Award is given annually for exceptional efforts to advance innovations in open sharing and advocacy for positive change in the scholarly communication system. 

Up to two individuals or departments are selected from nominations each year for award amounts between $500 and $2,500. Individual awardees may be invited to serve on KU's Open Access Advisory Board. In all, 14 honorees have been named throughout the award’s history. 

“The University of Kansas has been a long-standing leader in the open access movement, with a commitment to advancing human knowledge,” said Carol Smith, dean of Libraries. “Librarians and scholars are continuously working together to close gaps in terms of time, accessibility and affordability of materials in the digital era. We’re proud to continue honoring top contributors – this year Raj Bhala, among another deserving cohort – to open scholarly communication.” 

KU and KU Libraries’ history of supporting open scholarship includes open access advocacy, article publishing support, scholarly communication and copyright issues, KU ScholarWorks repository, digital publishing services, and partnership in research data management and sharing. KU is a member of the Higher Education Leadership Initiative for Open Scholarship (HELIOS Open) and Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), among others. KU Libraries’ work currently includes the digital publication of more than 50 open journals.