Genre Change Online: Open Access and the Scientific Research Article Genre

Historically, the scientific research article (SRA) has been a relatively stable genre, and one that has been well studied from a rhetorical perspective (Bazerman, 1988; Berkenkotter & Huckin, 1995; Gross et al., 2002). The recent rise of open access has brought along with it significant changes in research article publishing, but what does that mean for the writing of the key academic genre of the SRA? This dissertation seeks to understand what may be happening to the scientific research article in light of open access, and how that may influence our understanding of genres and genre change, particularly in cases involving digital media. To address this exigence, this dissertation undertakes a genre analysis of scientific research articles published in two successful open access biology journals, PLOS Biology and BMC Biology. Each case study features an analysis of sampled articles from the journal, the broader genre "ecosystem" to establish potential influence of open access on the SRA, and authors who have published in it.;Based on the case studies reported in this dissertation, I argue that the scholarly research articles analyzed here are not evidence of complete genre change, but that the more accurate term for what is happening with the SRA in light of open access is adaptation of the genre. By doing this, I will reframe the discussions that are taking place about open access being "revolutionary" and the internet "revolutionizing communication," moving the focus away from technology and back to that with which rhetoricians are primarily concerned: context. While technology is certainly an aspect of the context, the Internet, in this case, is just an environment----it is not a determiner of the genre or the actions of the authors and editors. The context that becomes critical here is the ideology of science and how that comes into play with the ideology of open access. Science is a powerful and influential way of understanding the world, and my discussion of this study's implications focuses on how we see this power and influence on the profession's key genre, the scientific research article. This project concludes with a discussion of the study's limitations and directions for future research.