BIBLIOGRAPHY: OPEN ACCESS RESEARCH STUDIES AND PUBLICATIONS OF THE OPERAS CONSORTIUM
Download the full OPERAS Design Study here: OPERAS Design Study
INTRODUCTION
OPERAS partners have been involved in a number of research projects and international events to gain experience with and develop models for the OPERAS distributed Research Infrastructure (RI). They have more than ten years of experience in open access (OA) publishing and related research studies and publications.
This part is comprised of two sections. The first section summarizes the research studies and publications of the OPERAS Consortium. The second one lists the events and meetings they have organized.
RESEARCH STUDIES AND PUBLICATIONS
The first section of this part considers research studies and publications of the OPERAS Consortium from 2009 to 2017. The studies and publications in this bibliography are not exhaustive but represent the extensive work of the OPERAS Consortium. While the OPERAS Consortium has been active in the field for much longer, the bibliography only covers findings from the last decade. It pays special attention to research from the OPERAS Core Group, as they have been most active in this field, and introduces their studies with short abstracts.
The research studies and publications of the OPERAS Consortium focus on the SSH and digital OA publishing, as well as on the need for OA publishing and the impacts that derive from it. OpenEdition/ Cléo, in particular, has offered the academic community four international-scale publication and information platforms in the SSH since 1999: Revues, OpenEdition Books, Calenda, and Hypotheses. These platforms host more than 400 journals and 1,800 books, as well as academic blogs and scientific programs. EKT, the Greek national institution for documentation, is actively involved in issues regarding OA to scientific publications and research data. IBL PAN manages two electronic platforms for dissemination of research results and scholarly communication: New Panorama of Polish Literature and Polish Studies Newsletter. The Consortium’s research also looks at best practices, case studies, and policy recommendations, e.g. for coordinated OA policies in Europe and business models. UCL Press is the first fully OA university press in the UK and has done a lot of research on best practices and policy recommendations. UC Digitalis, operating the three digital libraries Alma Mater, Pombalina and Impactum, has undertaken research on threats and opportunities of OA publishing. The OPERAS Consortium’s research more specifically considers the special case of OA monographs and considers OA journals. OAPEN is particularly dedicated to open access to scholarly monographs and operates the OAPEN Library, a platform for hosting, dissemination and preservation of open access books, and the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), a service for OA books. MWS, on the other hand, focuses on journals. It operates its journals (Francia-Recensio, Discussions, Essays of the Forum Transregionale Studien, Friedrich300, Joachim-Lelewel-Gespräche, Kulturgeschichte Preußens, Orient-Institut Studies, Recensio Moskau and many more) on its publication platform perspectivia.net. The University of Zadar is also very active in this field and operates HRCAK, a portal of Croatian scientific journals.
While many research studies and publications were published in English, a lot of studies are only available in their national language, stressing the great need for a coordination of university-led scholarly communication activities in the SSH in Europe.
SSH AND DIGITAL OA PUBLISHING
IBL PAN – Maryl, Maciej. ‘Literary Life Online: Writers, Institutions and Readers Facing Technological Changes’. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo IBL. 2015.
This study concerns the ways in which new communication technologies have reshaped literary life, understood as the social institution of producing, publishing, reading and evaluating literary texts. The field of online literary life remains unexplored in literary scholarship. This situation seems to stem from the lack of an adequate methodology – one that would allow for a more or less equal treatment of both actual and virtual literary worlds. Such a methodology should target not only the novelty but also the continuity of cultural phenomena. Online literary life does not exist in a vacuum, far removed from the ‘traditional’ communication patterns of print (sender-institution-receiver). On the contrary, it has become an indispensable component of literary communication today. In this work I propose an anthropological approach to literary practices, which, I argue, helps us bridge the gap between those two worlds.
EKT – Tsoukala, Victoria; Panagopoulou, Alexia; Stavrou, Giorgos; Angelidi, Eleni; Sachini, Evi; and Alexandros Nafpliotis. ‘Developing the Greek Reference Index for the Social Sciences and Humanities’. Let’s Put Data to Use: Digital Scholarship for the Next Generation: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Electronic Publishing, 59–67. 2014. ISBN:978-1-61499-409-1. helios-eie.ekt.gr/EIE/handle/10442/14318.
The ways in which research data is used and handled continues to capture public attention and is the focus of increasing interest. Electronic publishing is intrinsic to digital data management, and relevant to the fields of data mining, digital publishing and social networks, with their implications for scholarly communication, information services, e-learning, e-business and the cultural heritage sector. This book presents the proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Electronic Publishing (Elpub), held in Thessaloniki, Greece, in June 2014. The conference brings together researchers and practitioners to discuss the many aspects of electronic publishing, and the theme of 2014 was ‘Let’s put data to use: digital scholarship for the next generation’. As well as examining the role of cultural heritage and service organisations in the creation, accessibility, duration and long-term preservation of data, it provides a discussion forum for the appraisal, citation and licensing of research data and the new developments in reviewing, publishing and editorial technology. The book is divided into sections covering the following topics: open access and open data; knowing the users better; researchers and their needs; specialized content for researchers; publishing and access; and practical aspects of electronic publishing. Providing an overview of all that is current in the electronic publishing world, this book will be of interest to practitioners, researchers and students in information science, as well as users of electronic publishing.
EKT – Wessels, Bridgette; Finn, Rachel L.; Linde, Peter; Mazzetti, Paolo; Nativi, Stefano; Riley, Susan; Smallwood, Rod; et al. ‘Issues in the Development of Open Access to Research Data’, 49–66. 2014. doi:10.1080/08109028.2014.956505. tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08109028.2014.956505.
This paper explores key issues in the development of open access to research data. The use of digital means for developing, storing and manipulating data is creating a focus on ‘data-driven science’. One aspect of this focus is the development of ‘open access’ to research data. Open access to research data refers to the way in which various types of data are openly available to public and private stakeholders, user communities and citizens. Open access to research data, however, involves more than simply providing easier and wider access to data for potential user groups. The development of open access requires attention to the ways data are considered in different areas of research. We identify how open access is being unevenly developed across the research environment and the consequences this has in terms of generating data gaps. Data gaps refer to the way data becomes detached from published conclusions. To address these issues, we examine four main areas in developing open access to research data: stakeholder roles and values; technological requirements for managing and sharing data; legal and ethical regulations and procedures; institutional roles and policy frameworks. We conclude that problems of variability and consistency across the open access ecosystem need to be addressed within and between these areas to ensure that risks surrounding a data gap are managed in open access.
OAPEN – Adema, Janneke; and Eelco Ferwerda. ‘Publication Practices in Motion: The Benefits of Open Access Publishing for the Humanities’. New Publication Cultures in the Humanities: Exploring the Paradigm Shift, 131–146. Amsterdam University. 2014. academia.edu/12282828/Publication_Practices_in_Motion_The_Benefits_of_Open_Access_Publishing_for_the_Humanities.
This paper will show how open access publishing can aid humanities scholars in transition – from the English professor who hardly touches a computer (except for the occasional email or to search for something in an online library catalogue) to the digital humanist building collaborative virtual environments to present and communicate the newest version of her (and her groups’) data sets. In particular, open access publishing will serve the scholar that finds himself positioned somewhere in between these two extremes: the scholar who occasionally reads and browses a book that her communication with her peers is increasingly taking place in an online environment; the same scholar who is afraid that her work might be stolen or plagiarized in the online world and who is skeptical about how authority, quality and integrity can be maintained in digital publishing; and who, moreover, is all too aware that tenure and promotion committees still judge a book by its (printed) cover.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Mounier, Pierre. ‘Internet Governance and the Question of Legitimacy (Chapter 8) – Governance, Regulation and Powers on the Internet’. Governance, Regulations and Powers on the Internet, Cambridge University Press. 2012. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139004145.011. cambridge. org/core/books/governance-regulation-and-powers-on-the-internet/05E4340987B5F57F3D376B37A 2EB1861
Digital technologies have prompted the emergence of new modes of regulation and governance, since they allow for more decentralized processes of elaboration and implementation of norms. Moreover, the Internet has been raising a wide set of governance issues since it affects many domains, such as individual rights, public liberties, property rights, economic competition, market regulation, conflict management, security and the sovereignty of states. There is therefore a need to understand how technical, political, economic and social norms are articulated, as well as to understand who the main actors of this process of transformation are, how they interact and how these changes may influence international rulings. This book brings together an international team of scholars to explain and analyse how collective regulations evolve in the broader context of the development of post-modern societies, globalization, the reshaping of international relations and the profound transformations of nation-states.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Mounier, Pierre. Read/Write Book 2 : Une introduction aux humanités numériques. OpenEdition Press. 2012. books.openedition.org/oep/226.
Qu’est-ce que les humanités numériques ? Apparue en 2006, l’expression connaît depuis un véritable succès. Mais au-delà du slogan à la mode, quelle est la réalité des pratiques qu’il désigne ? Si tout le monde s’accorde sur une définition minimale à l’intersection des technologies numériques et des sciences humaines et sociales, les vues divergent lorsqu’on entre dans le vif du sujet. Les humanités numériques représentent-elles une véritable révolution des pratiques de recherche et des paradigmes intellectuels qui les fondent ou, plus simplement, une optimisation des méthodes existantes ? Constituent-elles un champ suffisamment structuré pour justifier une réforme des modes de financement de la recherche, des cursus de formation, des critères d’évaluation ? L’archive numérique offre-t-elle à la recherche suffisamment de garanties ? Quelle place la recherche « dirigée par les données » laisse-t-elle à l’interprétation ? Telles sont quelques-unes des questions abordées par ce deuxième opus de la collection « Read/Write Book ». Ces dix-huit textes essentiels, rédigés ou traduits en français par des chercheurs de différentes nationalités, proposent une introduction aux humanités numériques accessible à tous ceux qui souhaitent en savoir plus sur ce domaine de recherche en constante évolution.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Mounier, Pierre; and Marin Dacos. ‘Electronic Publishing’. Communications No 88/1, 47–55. 2012. doi:10.3917/commu.088.0047. cairn.info/revue-communications-2011-1-page-47.htm.
Electronic publishing is gradually gaining its independence from traditional publishing. This booming sector can be broken down into three distinct areas: digitization reproduces printed publications in the digital environment; native digital publishing occurs when the editing process is exclusively grounded in the digital format and doesn’t undergo the printing process; network publishing takes advantage of the opportunities for collaborative writing allowed by the Internet. Starting at different times in the history of electronic publishing, these three approaches now coexist within the same environment centered around the notion of text.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Dacos, Marin. Read/Write Book : Le livre inscriptible. OpenEdition Press. 2010. books.openedition.org/oep/128.
En entrant dans l’ère de l’informatique en réseau, le livre devient inscriptible. Son développement ne suit plus la ligne droite de la traditionnelle chaîne du livre, mais se diffuse par ramifications réticulaires. Comme un oignon, il se pare de multiples couches d’informations, ajoutées par différents métiers, mais aussi par les lecteurs. Ensemble, ils participent à une vaste entreprise d’enrichissement documentaire qui multiplie les grilles de lecture du texte et en fait miroiter les multiples sens. Inscriptible, le livre s’insère désormais dans un système d’information riche, polymorphe, mouvant et encore très fragile. C’est le Read/Write Book.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Dacos, Marin; and Pierre Mounier. ‘Les carnets de recherche en ligne, espace d’une conversation scientifique décentrée’ Lieux de savoir, T.2, Gestes et supports du travail savant. Albin Michel. 2010. archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/sic_00439849.
Le carnet de recherches produit un décentrement des lieux d’écriture vers des espaces moins codifiés et moins formels que les espaces de publication traditionnels, prenant ainsi le relais de formes plus volatiles et moins individuelles de conversation. Ce qui est en jeu est moins une économie de l’écriture que de la lecture. En jetant les bases d’une nouvelle relation au lectorat, le carnet de recherche offre l’opportunité de réinventer l’écriture scientifique autour du paradigme de la conversation, renouant ainsi avec une vieille tradition de débat scientifique, tout en se dotant d’une rhétorique adaptée au nouvel espace qui se met en place.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Mounier, Pierre. L’édition électronique : un nouvel eldorado pour les sciences humaines ? OpenEdition Press. 2010. doi:10.4000/books.oep.169.
En guise d’introduction, il me semble nécessaire de faire le point sur un certain nombre de questions qui ont structuré les débats sur l’édition électronique depuis dix ans. À mon sens, ces questions sont aujourd’hui largement obsolètes.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Mounier, Pierre; and Marin Dacos. ‘Sciences et société en interaction sur Internet. Éléments pour une histoire de l’édition électronique en sciences humaines et sociales’. Communication & languages, 159, 123–35. 2009. archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/sic_00439828.
The rise of digital networks is a critical time in the complicated history of the relationship between science and society, both in terms of technological development and its impact on scientific communication. The example of humanities and social science highlights their mediating role in the relationship between science and society.
Further research and publications
- Göttingen UP – Beucke, Daniel. ‘Ursprünge und Entwicklung von Open Access’, Praxishandbuch Open Söllner, Konstanze; and Bernhard Mittermaier. de Gruyter, 12–20. 2017. doi:10.1515/9783110494068-002. degruyter.com/view/books/9783110494068/9783110494068- 002/9783110494068-002.xml.
- OLH – ‘The New Open Access Environment: Innovation in Research, Editing and Publishing’. Edwards, Caroline. MLA Commons. 2016. hcommons.org/deposits/item/mla:583.
- OLH – Eve, Martin Paul. ‘A Brave New World of Open Access Publishing’. Institute of Development Studies. ‘Transformation of Scholarly Communications’. Research Library Issues, 287. 2016. ids.ac.uk/opinion/a-brave-new-world-of-open-access-publishing.
- Göttingen UP – Horstmann, Wolfram; Jahn, Najko; and Birgit ‘Der Wandel der Informationspraxis in Forschung und Bibliothek’. Zeitschrift für Bibliothekswesen und Bibliographie, 62/2, 73–79. doi:10.3196/186429501562223. zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/receive/ jportal_jparticle_00333686.
- Göttingen UP – Bargheer, Margo. ‘Gute wissenschaftliche Praxis’. Handbuch CoScience / Version 2.0. 2015. doi:10.2314/COSCV2. handbuch.tib.eu/w/Handbuch_CoScience/_Version_2.0.
- OLH – Eve, Martin Paul; Willinsky, J.; Coble, Z.; and A. Ho. ‘Open Access in Humanities and Social Sciences: Visions for the Future of Publishing’. College and Research Libraries News 76/2. 2015. acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/9262/10312.
- Göttingen UP – Birgit Schmidt; Bargheer, Margo; and Norbert ‘An Update on Open Access Development in Germany’. OSI News. 2014. osinitiative.org/community/ an-update-on-open-access-developments-in-germany.
- SciELO – Packer, L.; et al. ‘SciELO – 15 Years of Open Access: an Analytic Study of Open Access and Scholarly Communication’. Paris: UNESCO. 2014. doi:10.7476/9789230012373. scielo.org/php/level.php?lang=en&component=42&item=31.
- Huma-Num – Pouyllau, Stéphane.’Web de données, big data, open data, quels rôles pour les documentalistes ?’ Documentaliste – Sciences de l’Information, ADBS, 50, 32–33. rechercheisidore.fr/search/resource/?uri=10670/1.v60ozw.
- UniTo – Giglia, Elena. ‘Open Access to Scientific Research: where are we and where are we going? Facts and Figures on the Occasion of the 2010 Open Access Week’. European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, 46/3, 461–469. minervamedica.it/en/journals/europa-medicophysica/article.php?cod=R33Y2010N03A0461
THE NEED FOR OA PUBLISHING
OpenEdition/Cléo – Dacos, Marin; and Pierre Mounier. ‘Le livre numérique est dans l’impasse, faisons le choix de l’édition électronique ouverte !’. Le Monde.fr. 2017. lemde.fr/2uRbxZi.
Après plus de dix ans d’attentisme et d’aveuglement, il s’agit de proposer un livre numérique lisible, manipulable et citable.
IBL PAN – Dallas, Costis; Chatzidiakou, Nephelie; Maryl, Maciej; et al. ‘European Survey on Scholarly Practices and Digital Needs in the Arts and Humanities’. Highlights Report. 2016. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.260101.zenodo.org/record/260101.
The highlights of the European survey on scholarly practices and digital needs in the arts and humanities carried out by DARIAH Digital Methods and Practices Observatory WG (DiMPO). This research is the outcome of collaborative work of European researchers from different countries, working within the DiMPO Working Group. It has been designed as a multiregional longitudinal survey, to be conducted online across European countries and to be repeated every few years. Its aim is to provide an evidence-based outlook of scholarly practices, needs and attitudes of European humanities researchers towards digital resources, methods and tools across space and time. Results of the first run of the survey (completed in March 2015) are presented in a multi-authored report, which includes comparative and consolidated analyses, as well as five country profiles.
OAPEN – ‘Researcher Survey 2012’. 2012. oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org/research-findings/researchersurvey.
This presentation reports on the findings of our survey of humanities and social science (HSS) researchers. We carried out the survey between February and May 2012, and achieved 690 usable responses. The survey covers issues including attitudes to open access publishing and Creative Commons licensing, researchers’ preferences and priorities as both authors and readers, and their views of the overall aims of the scholarly communications system. The survey will be used to shape our work in the third year of the OAPEN-UK project, as we begin to consider some of the cross-cutting issues such as licensing regimes, discoverability and formats which are likely to affect an open access business model for HSS monographs.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Mounier, Pierre. ‘Le libre accès : entre idéal et nécessité’. 2010. doi: 10.4267/2042/38634. documents.irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/38634.
Much of the current debate on the open access issue has been akin to ideological warfare, using militant language registers around the concept of public common goods. The high level of visibility of the debate masks two important points that could change perceptions on its real impact. Our analysis of the development of open access initiatives shows that the political dimension of the issue is by no means predominant in all disciplines and varies considerably among different communities. Furthermore, the profound changes in scientific communication practices brought about by the expansion of digital networks could lessen the relevance of the militant approach to open access. The proliferation of documents, the relative blurring of boundaries between different forms of publishing and the fact that barriers to access to publications are being lowered are lessening the perceived influence of systems that artificially manufacture rarity, and the scientific communication system is gradually being forced to conform to the attention economics. This makes it possible to anticipate changes in scientific publishing comparable to those in the press and music publishing sectors.
Further research and publications
- OLH – Havergal, Chris; and Martin Paul ‘Two-thirds of UK Academics Back Open Access, Survey Finds’. Times Higher Education, 2016. bit.ly/292WE98.
- Göttingen UP – Adema, Janneke; and Birgit ‘From Service Providers to Content Producers: New Opportunities for Libraries in Collaborative Open Access Book Publishing’. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 6/S1, 28–43. 2010. goedoc.uni-goettingen.de/goescholar/handle/1/6372.
- ISCTE-IUL – Amante, Maria João; and Teresa ‘A gestão do conhecimento nas Universidades: o papel dos Repositórios Institucionais’. 2010. repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/handle/10071/1650.
THE IMPACT OF OA PUBLISHING
OAPEN – Snijder, Ronald. ‘Do Developing Countries Profit from Free Books?: Discovery and Online Usage in Developed and Developing Countries Compared’. Journal of Electronic Publishing, 16/1. 2013. doi: 10.3998/3336451.0016.103. quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jep/3336451.0016.103?view=text;rgn=m ain.
For years, Open Access has been seen as a way to remove barriers to research in developing countries. In order to test this, an experiment was conducted to measure whether publishing academic books in open access has a positive effect on developing countries. During a period of nine months the usage data of 180 books was recorded. Of those, a set of 43 titles was used as control group with restricted access. The rest was made fully accessible. The data shows the digital divide between developing countries and developed countries: 70 percent of the discovery data and 73 percent of online usage data come from developed countries. Using statistical analysis, the experiment confirms that open access publishing enhances discovery and online usage in developing countries. This strengthens the claims of the advocates of open access: researchers from the developing countries do benefit from free academic books.
OAPEN – Snijder, Ronald. ‘The Profits of Free Books: An Experiment to Measure the Impact of Open Access Publishing’. Learned Publishing, 23/4, 293–301. 2010. doi: 10.1087/20100403. bit.ly/2w1AdwD.
This article describes an experiment to measure the impact of open access (OA) publishing of academic books. During a period of nine months, three sets of 100 books were disseminated through an institutional repository, the Google Book Search program, or both channels. A fourth set of 100 books was used as control group. OA publishing enhances discovery and online consultation. Within the context of the experiment, no relation could be found between OA publishing and citation rates. Contrary to expectations, OA publishing does not stimulate or diminish sales figures. The Google Book Search program is superior to the repository.
Further research and publications
- ISCTE-IUL – Rodrigues, Maria Eduarda Pereira; Amante, Maria João; Pais, Clarisse; Lopes, Susana; Segurado, Teresa; and António Moitinho Rodrigues. ‘Os Repositórios Das Instituições de Ensino Superior Portuguesas : Estudo Comparativo’. Cadernos BAD, 0/2, 71–79.
- Göttingen UP – Horstmann, Wolfram; Brase, Jan; and Najko Jahn. ‘Libraries and Data – Paradigm Shifts and Challenges’. Bibliothek Forschung und Praxis, 40/2. 2016. doi: 1515/bfp-2016-0034. degruyter.com/view/j/bfup.2016.40.issue-2/bfp-2016-0034/bfp-2016-0034.xml.
- OLH – Adelia Grabowsky. ‘The Impact of Open Access Publishing on Collection Management’. Virginia Libraries, 61/1. ejournals.lib.vt.edu/valib/article/view/1325/1794.
- University of Turin – Giglia, ‘Open Access to Research Data as a Driver for Open Science’. JLIS. 2015. jlis.it/article/view/11130/10369.
- ISCTE-IUL – Amante, Maria João. ‘Acesso Aberto @ISCTE-IUL’. Universidade do Minho, Serviços de Documentação. hdl.handle.net/10071/6497.
- ISCTE-IUL – Segurado, Teresa; Marçal, Bruno; Amante, Maria João; and Carina Cunha. ‘Os Investigadores e a Sua Relação Com o Acesso Aberto à Produção Científica: O Caso Do ISCTE-IUL’. repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/handle/10071/5569.
- Huma-Num – Pouyllau, Stéphane. ‘Les moteurs de recherche profitent aussi de la sémantique’. Documentaliste – Sciences de l’Information, ADBS, 48/4, 36–37. rechercheisidore.fr/search/resource/?uri=10670/1.oodgbq.
- UniTo – Giglia, Elena. ‘The Impact Factor of Open Access Journals: Data and Trends’. ELPUB 2010 Conference Proceedings, 16–39. 2010. shh.fi/dspace/bitstream/10227/599/72/2giglia.pdf.
BEST PRACTICES, CASE STUDIES, AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
UCL Press – Speicher, Lara. ‘UCL Press: a New Model for Open Access University Presses’. Positioning and Power in Academic Publishing: Players, Agents and Agendas, Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Electronic Publishing, IoS Press. 2016. doi: 10.3233/978-1-61499-649-1-99. iospress.nl/publication/42902.
UCL Press was relaunched at UCL in June 2015, as the UK’s first fully open access university press. It publishes scholarly monographs, textbooks, edited collections, scholarly editions and journals. All publications are made freely available online in open access form and print books are also sold via retailers at an affordable price. UCL authors are funded to publish open access with the Press. This article describes its activities in more detail and offers the model as one that other institutions can follow.
UCL Press – Speicher, Lara. ‘A Fully Open Access University Press’. BookBrunch. 2016. bookbrunch.co.uk/page/free-article/a-fully-open-access-university-press.
Lara Speicher argues that open access publishing can disseminate knowledge to an extent impossible under traditional models.
UCL Press – Lockett, Andrew; and Lara Speicher. ‘New University Presses in the UK: Accessing a Mission’. Learned Publishing, 29/S1, 320–29. 2016. doi: 10.1002/leap.1049. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/leap.1049/abstract.
In the space of just a year, five new university presses were launched in the UK. Although very different in size and stages of development, all but one were launched first and foremost as open access presses, based in or supported by their university’s library. Why should there have been such a significant flurry of activity in such a short space of time, and what can the stated objectives and activities of these presses tell us about the current UK scholarly publishing environment? To answer some of those questions, this article looks back to the original mission of the founding university presses, examines the policy and funding environments in which the new presses are operating, looks at overseas developments in recent years for comparison, and concludes with a review of the challenges these young presses face as well as the benefits all university presses, but particularly open access ones, can confer to their institutions.
UCL Press – Ayris, Paul; and Lara Speicher. ‘UCL Press: The UK’s “First Fully Open Access” University Press’. Insights 28/3. 2015. doi: 10.1629/uksg.257. insights.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/uksg.257.
The purpose of this article is to set in context the launch of University College London Press (UCL Press), which describes itself as the UK’s first fully open access (OA) university press. The drivers for this launch are bound up with the global movement towards open access and Open Science – developments in which UCL is acknowledged as a European leader. The first part of the article looks at these movements and relates them to the relaunch in May 2015 of the UCL Press imprint as an OA imprint. This analysis has been undertaken by Dr Paul Ayris, Director of UCL Library Services and Chief Executive of UCL Press. The second half of the article is a personal account by Lara Speicher, Publishing Manager at UCL Press, of the relaunch of the Press. This section looks at staffing structures, business models, technical infrastructures, publishing programmes and content. In the final part of the article, Paul Ayris draws some conclusions from the history of the relaunch of UCL Press and sets these in the context of the global Open Science discussion.
UC Digitalis – Leão, Delfim. ‘Academic Publishing in Portugal: Threats and Major Opportunities’. Insights, 28/1. 2015. doi: 10.1629/uksg.179. insights.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/uksg.179.
This article begins with an analysis of the current state of scientific publication in Portugal, with reference to the impact of the open access (OA) policies of commercial and academic publishers. It then explores the relationship between academic publishing and institutional repositories, discussing the way they should complement one another, taking as reference the activities of the Portuguese Association of Higher Education Publishers (APEES). Final remarks deal more specifically with the UC Digitalis project from Coimbra University Press (CUP), and the way it is committed to the goal of fostering science produced in Portuguese-speaking countries.
IBL PAN – Szleszyński, Bartłomiej; Niciński, Konrad; and Agnieszka Kochańska. ‘How to Communicate Scholarly Knowledge on the Internet: Remarks on the “PrusPlus” Collection’. New Panorama of Polish Literature, 21. 2015. napis.edu.pl/pdf/Napis021_artykuly/NAPIS-2015_SERIA-XXI_s348–359_Bartlomiej-Szleszynski_Konrad-Nicinski_Agnieszka-Kochanska.pdf.
Nowa Panorama Literatury Polskiej (The New Panorama of Polish Literature, NPLP.PL) is a platform for the presentation of research results in the digital environment. It is a part of the Digital Humanities Centre at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. It consists of separate collections, each telling a different ‘scientific story’ and using a different form to present content. The interdisciplinary team of the New Panorama of Polish Literature includes literary and culture researchers, graphic designers and typographers.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Newton, Hazel; Dacos, Marin; Mounier, Pierre; and Yrsa Neuman. ‘Snapshots of Three Open Access Business Models’. Insights: The UKSG Journal, 27, 39–44. 2014. doi: 10.1629/2048-7754.118. insights.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/2048-7754.118.
Following on from Eelco Ferwerda’s introduction to different OA monograph business models (http://dx.doi.org/10.1629/2048-7754.46), Hazel Newton (Palgrave Macmillan), Marin Dacos and Pierre Mounier (OpenEdition Books) and Yrsa Neuman (Åbo Akademi University) explain the different OA business models that they are currently working with.
UC Digitalis – Leão, Delfim. ‘Imprensa Universitária: oportunidades e desafios’. RUA-L: Revista da Universidade de Aveiro. Letras 0/3, 51–55. 2014.
The paper starts by analyzing the situation of scientific publication in Portugal, taking as reference the activities of the Portuguese Association of Higher Education Publishers (APEES); it then explores the relation between academic publication and institutional repositories, discussing the way they should complement themselves, in connection with the impact of open access policies over commercial and academic publishers. (Publication in Portuguese)
UCL Press – Ayris, Paul; McLaren, Erica; Moyle, Martin; Sharp, Catherine; and Lara Speicher. ‘Open Access in UCL: A New Paradigm for London’s Global University in Research Support’. Australian Academic & Research Libraries. 2014. tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00048623.2014.956462.
Open Access provides an opportunity for researchers to disseminate their research globally, but it comes with challenges. This article looks at the various ways in which UCL (University College London) has addressed those challenges, by investing in open access activities at the university.
EKT – Nafprliotis, Alexandros; Tsoukala, Victoria; Houssos, Nikos; Kalaitzis, Andreas; and Evi Sachini. ‘EKT EPublishing: Developing an Open Access Publishing Service for the Greek Research Community’. Let’s Put Data to Use: Digital Scholarship for the Next Generation: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Electronic Publishing, 112–18. 2014. doi: 10.3233/978-1-61499-409-1-112. ebooks.iospress.nl/publication/36556.
The present contribution concerns a case study of open access scholarly publishing in Greece, its history and effect in helping the local researcher community transition from a print-only mode of work to online working environments and in rendering Greek publications and scholarship more relevant to the international scholarly community. The paper elaborates on the goals of the project and the challenges that were encountered and addressed during its implementation. The project, which started in 2007 with the transition of three print journals in the humanities to an online and print format and online working environment, culminated in the development of an online platform that provides access to content and services from a single point in the web, ePublishing.ekt.gr. As part of the National Documentation Centre (EKT)’s services, we systematize and upgrade the journals’ policies according to international standards, provide an online working platform and training, digitize and release in open access academic articles (more than 3,000 articles in established journals, published by small, non-profit, academic/scholarly society publishers, so far), provide DOIs, as well as concentrate on electronic books and conference proceedings – also to include purely online books in the future, starting with a born-digital monograph in a Humanities subject (onlineBook). In a nutshell, we have focused on providing publishers of scientific journals a range of comprehensive services which are constantly updated and improved in the light of the developments in scholarly communication, and which foster the internationalization, visibility, and preservation of research in these fields.
EKT – Tsoukala, Victoria; and Evi Sachini. ‘MedOANet: Facilitating Coordinated Open Access Policies and Strategies in Mediterranean Europe’. Uma Decana de Acesso Aberto Na UMinho e No Mundo. 2013. helios-eie.ekt.gr/EIE/handle/10442/13731.
The Mediterranean Open Access Network supports the development of coordinated policies aligned to the European Commission’s policies on access to and preservation of scientific information in Greece, Turkey, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. In two years of work the project mapped the open access landscape by performing surveys among research funders, researcher performing organizations and publishers; it developed the Open Access Tracker, an online tool that profiles countries on the basis of their available open access policies and initiatives. The project facilitated the coordination of action and policy development in each country through engagement with policymakers and coordination events and facilitated coordination at the regional level among the six countries. Finally, MedOANet developed guidelines for policy implementation directed to policymakers of the six countries.
OAPEN – Ferwerda, Eelco; and Caren Milloy. ‘Europe Needs a Unified Approach to Open-Access Books’. Research Europe. 2013. researchresearch.com/news/article/?articleId=1338074.
The first European-level meeting on open access monographs revealed important national differences in publishing and funding cultures. But there is still a scope and need for international cooperation, argue Eelco Ferwerda and Caren Milloy.
UC Digitalis – Leão, Delfim; and Carla Marques. ‘As revistas da Universidade de Coimbra. Dinâmicas de produção científica e cultural’. Rua Larga, 38. 2013. digitalis.uc.pt/en/artigo/revistas_da_universidade_de_coimbra_din%C3%A2micas_de_produ%C3%A7%C3%A3o_cient%C3%ADfica_e_cultural.
Short presentation of the aims and scopes of the scientific journals published at the University of Coimbra (Publication in Portuguese).
IBL PAN – Bolecki, Włodzimierz; Maryl, Maciej. ‘The Web of the Senses – Online Methods of Presenting Academic Research Results.’ Polish Academy of Sciences, Annual Report, 25, 26–27. 2013. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.837254. zenodo.org/record/837254.
Institute of Literary Research, PAS has developed a multimedia website containing several hundred articles on the representations of the senses in Polish culture. This interdisciplinary project is the first of its size within the Polish humanities to employ online presentation of academic research results (digital humanities). It must be pointed out, however, that the method does not merely consist in uploading the text, but in applying Internet logic to the arrangement and organization of research data, which facilitates users’ access to the desired content. The website is an outcome of a research and development project entitled Sensuality in Polish Culture: ‘Representations of the Human Senses in Language, Literature, and Art from the Middle Ages to the Present’ (NCBiR No. 17 0005 06/2009), conducted between 2010 and 2012 by the Department of Historical Poetics of the Institute of Literary Research, PAS.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Mounier, Pierre. ‘Revues.org : une plateforme d’édition électronique au service des sciences humaines et sociales’. Bulletin de psychologie Numéro 511/1, 55–56. 2011. cairn.info/revue-bulletin-de-psychologie-2011-1-p-55.htm.
Revues.org est une plateforme d’édition électronique qui diffuse aujourd’hui plus de 280 revues et collections de livres en ligne dans toutes les disciplines des sciences humaines et sociales. Il s’agit d’une initiative du Centre pour l’édition électronique ouverte (Cléo). Le Centre est soutenu par quatre établissements français de recherche et d’enseignement supérieur : le CNRS, l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales, l’université de Provence et l’université d’Avignon.
OpenEdition/Cléo – Mounier, Pierre. ‘Freemium as a Sustainable Economic Model for Open Access Electronic Publishing in Humanities and Social Sciences’. Information Services and Use 31/3. 2011. content.iospress.com/articles/information-services-and-use/isu652.
Between the two paths of open access – green and gold – the latter is the harder to develop and has the least support from the research community. The main difficulty is finding a sound economic model. Open access journals usually depend on two funding sources: subsidies and/or donations from institutions and publication fees from research units in the author-pays model. These two ways of funding open access journals and books have proved effective in some cases (Plos), but are not flawless. The Center for Open Electronic Publishing, a French initiative for open access publishing in humanities and social sciences, has recently developed a new economic model based on ‘freemium’ for its full open access journals and books series, in order to address two issues: improve their economical soundness and give them more visibility in libraries. Freemium, the contraction of ‘free’ and ‘premium’, preserves open access to information together with the marketing of premium services.
Further research and publications
- Göttingen UP – Tenopir, Carol; Talja, Sanna; Horstmann, Wolfram; Late, Elina; Hughes, Dane; Schmidt, Birgit; et al. ‘Research Data Services in European Academic Research Libraries’. LIBER Quarterly. 27/1, 23–44. 2017. doi: 10.18352/lq.10180. liberquarterly.eu/article/10.18352/lq.10180/.
- University Ca’Foscari – Cappellato, Linda; ‘Studio e realizzazione di una piattaforma di archiviazione di contenuti digitali per l’Università di Padova’. dspace.unive.it/handle/10579/9559.
- Göttingen UP – Schmidt, Birgit; Orth, Astrid; Franck, Gwen; Kuchma, Iryna; et al. ‘Stepping up Open Science Training for European Research’. Publications, 4/2, 2016. DOI:10.3390/ publications4020016. mdpi.com/2304-6775/4/2/16.
- Huma-Num – Pouyllau, Stéphane. ‘Isidore Suggestion, des recommandations de lecture pour les blogs de science’. ADBS. 2016. rechercheisidore.fr/search/resource/?uri=10670/1.5penin.
- OLH – Graf, ‘OLH – der diamantene Weg zu Open Access’. Archivalia. 2016. archivalia.hypotheses.org/57879.
- OLH – Edwards, Caroline. ‘The “Gold Route” to Open Science’. scilog: Blog of The Austrian Science Fund (FWF). scilog.fwf.ac.at/en/article/4482/the-gold-route-to-open-science.
- University Ca’Foscari – Buzzoni, ‘A Protocol for Scholarly Digital Editions? The Italian Point of View’. OpenBooks Editions, Digital Scholarly Editing: Theories and Practices. 2016.
- ISCTE-IUL – Amante, Maria João; Seguado, Teresa; Marçal, Bruno; and Susana Lopes. Recursos de informação numa IES: o repositório institucional, PontodeAcesso 9/3, 48–73. 2015.
- Göttingen UP – Schmidt, Birgit; and Jens ‘New Alliances for Research and Teaching Support: Establishing the Göttingen eResearch Alliance.’ Program Electronic Library and Information Systems, 49/4, 461–474. 2015. emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/ PROG-02-2015-0020.
- OLH – Wexler, Ellen; and Martin Paul ‘What Open-Access Publishing Actually Costs’. Chronicle of Higher Education. 2015. researchgate.net/publication/291936422_What_Open-Access_Publishing_Actually_Costs.
- OLH – Smith, Adam. ‘Alternative Open Access Publishing Models: Exploring New Territories in Scholarly Communication’. Report on the Workshop held on 12 October 2015 at the European Commission Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and 2015. bit.ly/2uUph3L.
- SciELO – Packer, ‘The Metrics Used in the Development of the SciELO Network Model’. Open Access Indicators and Scholarly Communications in Latin America, 81–96. 2014. goo.gl/teHwbp.
- ISCTE-IUL – Amante, Maria João. ‘O bibliotecário como gestor do conhecimento: o caso dos repositórios’. Revista Eletrónica de Comunicação, Informação & Inovação em Saúde, 8/2, 243–54. arca.fiocruz.br/handle/icict/17100.
- ISCTE-IUL – Amante, Maria João; Lopes, Susana; Marçal, Bruno; and Teresa ‘A interoperabilidade entre o Repositório e um sistema CRIS: o caso do ISCTE-IUL’. Cadernos BAD, 2, 83–93. 2014.
- ISCTE-IUL – Rodrigues, Maria Eduarda Pereira; Amante, Maria João; Pais, Clarisse; Segurado, Teresa; and Susana ‘Avaliação de repositórios institucionais: análise comparativa’. Cadernos BAD, 15–28. 2014.
- Göttingen UP – Schmidt, Birgit; and Kathleen ‘Licensing Revisited: Open Access Clauses in Practice’. Liber Quarterly, 22/3, 176–189. 2012. goedoc.uni-goettingen.de/goescholar/handle/1/8410.
- Huma-Num – Pouyllau, Stéphane; Minel, Jean-Luc; Kilouchi, Shadia; and Laurent Capelli. ‘Bilan 2011 de la plateforme ISIDORE et perspectives 2012–2015’. Comité de pilotage du TGE Adonis, 1–23. rechercheisidore.fr/search/resource/?uri=10670/1.bqexsj.
- Huma-Num – David, Sophie; Minel, Jean-Luc; and Stéphane ‘Documenting Some Uses of the Isidore Platform.’ 2011. rechercheisidore.fr/search/resource/?uri=10670/1.lbc7dv.
- Huma-Num – Maignien, ‘ISIDORE, de l’interconnexion de données à l’intégration de services’. 2011. rechercheisidore.fr/search/resource/?uri=10670/1.k9lck9.
OA MONOGRAPHS
OAPEN/KU Research – Ferwerda, Eelco; Pinter, Frances; and Niels Stern. ‘A Landscape Study on Open Access and Monographs: Policies, Funding and Publishing in Eight European Countries’. Knowledge Exchange 2017. 2017. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.815932. knowledge-exchange.info/event/open-access-monographs.
The monograph is one of the most prestigious publication outlets – a hallmark of reputation, a tool for career progression and a means of disseminating fundamental ideas of scholarship. Open access policies from funders, publishers and institutions have been relatively quiet on monographs and other long form publications, predominantly focusing on journals. However the beginnings of a transition to open access for monographs has commenced and there are several projects and initiatives exploring and experimenting in this area. The primary goal of the Landscape study was to assemble comparable data and analysis from Germany, Finland, Denmark, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Norway, Austria and France. This includes the costs of OA books; the fees being charged for OA books; the range of non-BPC models; the adoption of OA policies for books by funders (both public and private), universities, and publishers. An overview of OA book publishing along with a review of policies and mandates highlights the various national differences as well as similarities. The report also presents a number of proposals for all stakeholders to consider.
OAPEN – Milloy, Caren. ‘Investigating OA Monograph Services – Final Report’. Jisc Scholarly Communications. 2017. scholarlycommunications.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2016/10/11/investigating-oa-monograph-services-final-report.
This report presents the main activities and results of the ‘Investigating OA monograph services’ project. It starts with a brief description of the Project Preparation Phase and continues with the Project execution, covering each of the original work packages with a description of activities. The final section presents recommendations for next steps in the ongoing effort to establish the necessary infrastructure and services to support OA monograph publishing.
OAPEN – Snijder, Ronald. ‘The Influence of Open Access on Monograph Sales: The Experience at Amsterdam University Press’. LOGOS: The Journal of the World Book Community, 25/3, 13–23. 2014. doi: 10.1163/1878-4712-11112047. booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/1878-4712-11112047.
The hybrid model of Amsterdam University Press (AUP) combines monograph sales with open access publishing. This paper investigates the effects of open access publishing on the sales of monographs, taking into account the influence of: commercial potential; frontlist and backlist; and language. The data set contains sales figures of 513 books, spread over 36 months: 2010 to 2012. Over 70 per cent of those books are published on open access and are distributed through the OAPEN Library. Each influence is relevant, which makes it harder to single out the effects of apen access. The large difference between frontlist sales figures and those of the backlist leads to a separate analysis. The frontlist sales are affected by a combination of commercial potential and language; open access publishing has no effect in this situation. For the backlist, open access publishing is a significant influence on sales only in the subset of books whose print run is between one and 2000. No significant effect on books with a print run of zero, or on books with a print run between 2001 and 3000 could be measured. The hybrid model does not lead to more sales of open access monographs, and the loss of sales is negligible. The data suggest that a hybrid model is not an option to improve the sustainability of monograph publishing.
OAPEN – Snijder, Ronald. ‘Modes of Access: The Influence of Dissemination Channels on Open Access Monographs Use’. Information Research, 19/3. 2014. informationr.net/ir/19-3/paper638.html.
This paper studies the effects of several dissemination channels in an open access environment by analysing the download data of the OAPEN Library. Download data were obtained containing the number of downloads and the name of the Internet provider. Based on public information, each Internet provider was categorised. The subject and language of each book were determined using metadata from the OAPEN Library. Quantitative analysis was done using Excel, while the qualitative analysis was carried out using the statistical package SPSS. Almost three quarters of all downloads come from users who do not use the Website www.oapen.org, but find the books by other means. Qualitative analysis found no evidence that channel use was influenced by user groups or the state of users’ Internet infrastructure; nor was any effect on channel use found for either the language or the subjects of the monographs. The results show that most readers are using the ‘direct download’ channel, which occur if the readers use systems other than the OAPEN Library website. This implies that making the metadata available in the user’s systems, the infrastructure used on a daily basis, ensures the best results.
OAPEN – ‘Researcher Survey 2014: Survey of Use of Monographs by Academics – as Authors and Readers’. 2014. oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org/research-findings/researcher-survey-2014.
This paper reports the findings of the second OAPEN-UK researcher survey, carried out in early summer 2014. In collaboration with the HEFCE open access and monographs project, we surveyed UK humanities and social science researchers and achieved 2,231 usable responses. The survey explores the role of the monograph for researchers, as both authors and readers. It looks at issues around publishing, including what motivates researchers to change publisher and how they handle rights issues. It also looks at researcher preferences when reading books, including how and why they read them, and explores how desirable and realistic they consider open access to be.
OAPEN – Ferwerda, Eelco. ‘Open Access Monograph Business Models’. Insights, 27/0. 2014. doi:10.1629/2048-7754.46. insights.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/2048-7754.46.
In recent years, a number of business models have been developed for open access (OA) monographs in the humanities and social sciences (HSS). While each model has been created in response to specific circumstances and needs, some commonalities can be observed. This article outlines some of the main types of model to support the costs of publishing OA books and provides examples of these models across the world. It is followed by three short sketches providing more depth on: firstly, a traditional publisher’s OA monograph offer; secondly, a licensing-based model which draws from existing library budgets; and finally, an experiment with delayed open access for books in philosophy.
OAPEN – Snijder, Ronald. ‘Measuring Monographs: A Quantitative Method to Assess Scientific Impact and Societal Relevance”. First Monday, 18/5. 2013. firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/4250/3675.
In the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), the monograph is an important means of communicating scientific results. As in the field of STM, the quality of research needs to be assessed. This is done by bibliometric measures and qualitative methods. Bibliometric measures based on articles do not function well in the field of HSS, where monographs are the norm. The qualitative methods which take into account several stakeholders are labour intensive and the results are dependent on self- assessment of the respondents, which may introduce bias. In the case of humanities, the picture becomes even less clear due to uncertainties about the stakeholders. This article describes a method that may complement the current research on scientific impact and societal relevance. This method measures the usage of online monographs and identifies the internet provider involved. The providers are categorized as academic; government; business; non-profit organisations and the general public. The usage is further categorised in national and international. Combining this data makes it possible to assess the scientific impact and the societal relevance of the monographs. The method is quantitative, which makes the results easier to validate. It is not necessary to know the stakeholders in advance: the readers are identified through the method. The used data set consists of over 25,000 downloads by more than 1,500 providers, spread over 859 monographs. More than two thirds of the usage can be categorised, and almost 45% of all usage comes from non-academics. This might indicate that the monographs have an relevance in society. Two possible influences on monograph usage were analysed: subject and language. Most of the subjects that received a higher than average number of downloads come from the field of the social sciences; the humanities were less ‘popular’. Books in English – the ‘lingua franca’ of science – were downloaded the most. Languages such as Dutch were read much less outside of national borders that Italian or German. A Dutch or Belgian scholar would need a translation in order to have more influence abroad; this applies far less for Germans or Italians. While further research is needed, the results are promising and the proposed method could be used as an addition to the existing tools to measure the scholarly impact and societal relevance of the field of HSS.
OAPEN – Ferwerda, Eelco; Snijder, Ronald; and Janneke Adema. ‘OAPEN-NL: A Project Exploring Open Access Monograph Publishing in the Netherlands. Final Report’, 2013. bit.ly/2uRqkD8.
This final report presents the results of OAPEN-NL. Chapter 5 aims to give an overview of open access for monographs, looking at the benefits of open access, the motives for the transition to open access and early examples of open access book publishers, the various open access publication models and examples of policies supporting open access monographs and a short description of emerging open access business and funding models. The main outcomes of the project are presented in chapter 6, OAPEN-NL: Research Outcomes. The first section of chapter 6 provides an analysis of the qualitative aspects of the OAPEN-NL project, looking at the experiences and needs of users with respect to open access books and the project as a whole, as well as their expectations and requirements with respect to the OAPEN-NL publication fund and model. The following section investigates the costs of publishing a monograph in the Netherlands and discusses the implications for funders. The last section describes the effects of open access publishing on book sales, discovery, online consultation and citations. The final chapter collects the recommendations for open access monographs, drawn from both OAPEN-NL and developments elsewhere. In this report we use the term open access (OA) as defined by Peter Suber, as literature that is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions (Suber, 2012). We use the term monographs (sometimes called research monographs, or academic books, or simply books) for peer reviewed academic books. This report does not deal with other genres, such as dissertations, textbooks, reference works or trade books.
OAPEN – Adema, Janneke. ‘Overview of Open Access Models for Ebooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences: OAPEN Project Report.’ 2010. project.oapen.org/images/documents/openaccessmodels.pdf.
This research has looked at a variety of initiatives and specifically at their publishing models, business models and publishing processes. Within these divisions, special attention has been paid to the nature of the content, the level of open access provided, the peer review and copyright policies and, finally, the strategies of collaboration. The open access book publishing initiatives analyzed in this report have been classified according to their publishing models, they have thus been categorized into commercial publishers, presses established by societies or academies, presses established by libraries, library- university collaborations, university presses, presses established by academics and press-commercial publisher partnerships.
OAPEN – Ferwerda, Eelco. ‘Open Access Monographic Publishing in the Humanities’. Information Services & Use, 30/3–4, 135–41. 2010. doi: 10.3233/ISU-2010-0611. content.iospress.com/articles/information-services-and-use/isu611.
In recent years, it has become widely recognized that in the case of monographs, the traditional business model for books is losing its sustainability. Academic publishers have been forced to become more selective in the books they publish, and authors, in particular young researchers and first time authors, have found it harder to find a press willing to publish their work. In response to the economic restraints of printed monographs, many publishers and academic institutes, in particular research libraries, have started to experiment with digital and open access publication of monographs. OAPEN is the first international project to develop an open access model for publishers and stakeholders in scholarly communication. OAPEN stands for Open Access Publishing in European Networks. It is a 30 month project co-funded by the European Union, to develop and implement an open access (OA) publication model for peer reviewed academic books in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS).
Further research and publications
- KU Research – ‘Landscape Study on Open Access Monographs, Policies, Funding, Publishers’. Ferwerda, Eelco; and Niels 2017 (forthcoming).
- KU Research – ‘The Academic “Book” of the Future and its Function’, The Academic Book of the Future. Lyons, R; and S Rayner. Palgrave. 2016.
- Göttingen UP – Horstmann, Wolfram; Bargheer, Margo; and Andrea Rapp. ‘Monographien und ihr digitales Potenzial in der Forschung des 21. Jahrhunderts’. Bibliothek der Zukunft. Zukunft der Bibliothek, 92–104. Degkwitz, Andreas. 2016. doi:1515/9783110464016-009. degruyter.com/view/books/9783110464016/9783110464016-009/9783110464016-009.xml.
OA JOURNALS
OpenEdition/Cléo – Langlais, Pierre-Carl. ‘Critical Study of the New Ways of “Editorialising” Open Access Scientific Journals. Steering Committee: Bauin, Serge; Corne, Emmanuelle; Lafait, Jacques; and Pierre Mounier. 2017. hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01399286.
This report commissioned by BSN 4 and BSN 7 for the French Ministry of Research is concerned with the new ways in which open access journals can be editorialised. The transition to open access has accelerated in recent years. Several countries have established a legal framework to secure the depositing of articles in open archives (in France, a provision of this type is included in the Digital Bill). In May 2016, the Council of the European Union called for open access to be made a ‘default option’ in all Member States by 2020. While the conversion of scientific publishing to open access distribution appears to be a given in the short term, the ways and means remain uncertain: is the process confined to simply transferring budgets from subscription to the payment of publishing rights, without fundamentally changing the existing publishing structures (‘journal flipping’)? Or does it entail new models that reconfigure the existing parameters as a whole (review procedures, writing practices, business models, governance)? This dynamic of change opens up the prospect of large-scale reforms. The initial remit of the present study falls into this framework: what publishing forms can the state encourage in a digital age that is witnessing the transformation of scientific publishing and the failure of scientific peer review? This report maps four aspects of the emerging practices and initiatives: publishing tools, writing forms, peer review and economic models. The different ‘dimensions’ we have mapped are interdependent and raise common issues, addressed in the final part. In an ecosystem as “interdependent” as digital scientific publishing, this reform would imply the implementation of infrastructure policies which, above and beyond supporting specific usages and tools, would define the convergent linkages between mechanisms, actors and practices.
EKT – Tsoukala, Victoria; and Evi Sachini. ‘E-Journal and Open Access Journal Publishing in the Humanities: Preliminary Results from a Survey among Byzantine Studies Scholars. 2011. helios-eie.ekt.gr/EIE/handle/10442/8755.
This paper presents the preliminary results of a survey conducted by the National Documentation Centre/NHRF in the fall of 2010 among specialists in Byzantine Studies. The survey sought to assess needs and satisfaction with the electronic version of the journal ‘Byzantina Symmeikta’ and to assess scholarly attitudes about and practices in publishing in e-journals and open access journals among scholars in Byzantine Studies. The paper focuses on the latter part. Survey result suggest that scholars in Byzantine Studies increasingly rely on e-journals to carry out their research, they are predominantly positively disposed towards electronic publishing and open access, but most of them have not published in an electronic journal. Use of e-journals, experience with publishing in e-journals and open access journals and positive attitudes toward the above are especially high among younger scholars.
EKT – Sachini, Evi; Tsoukala, Victoria; Houssos, Nikos; Stathopoulou, Rania; Paschou, Christina; and Aggeliki Paraskevopoulou. ‘Open Access in the Humanities: A Case Study of Developing Three Open- Access Electronic Journals in Greece’. 2009. helios-eie.ekt.gr/EIE/handle/10442/13355.
The international movement for open access to scientific content along with advances in information and communication technologies and the Internet are bringing about revolutionary developments in scholarly publishing and communication: the availability of e-infrastructures supporting the management and exchange of the research output in digital format leads to the transformation of existing processes. It allows new ways of collaboration among researchers and facilitates the widespread dissemination of research results. Pioneering applications related to these trends have first appeared in scientific fields that inherently have a closer relationship with technology like natural sciences, engineering and medicine. However, significant relevant activities in the Humanities are also beginning to emerge worldwide. The present contribution concerns a case study of open access publishing in the Humanities, in particular a project that created freely accessible electronic versions of three pre-existing print-only journals of this subject area published in Greece but with international participation and perspectives. The paper provides Greek context in scholarly communication with an emphasis on the Humanities; it elaborates on the goals of the project and the challenges that were encountered and addressed during its implementation. One of the main reported successes of the project was the increased awareness among Greek researchers in Humanities of the capabilities and potentials of modern scholarly communication systems and the creation of a demand originating from the corresponding research community itself for the continuation and expansion of similar activities in the future.
Further research and publications
- OLH – Matthews, David; and Martin Paul ‘Open Library of Humanities Aims to ‘Flip’ Journals to Open Access’. Times Higher Education. 2015. timeshighereducation.com/research-intelligence/open-library-humanities-aims-flip-journals-open-access.
- SciELO – Meneghini, R. ‘Internationalizing a Prestigious Brazilian Scientific Journal’. Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society, 25/5, 798–798. doi: 10.5935/0103-5053.20140081. scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-50532014000500001&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en.
- SciELO – Meneghini, ‘Emerging Journals: the Benefits of and Challenges for Publishing Scientific Journals in and by Emerging Countries’. EMBO reports, 12/2, 106–108. 2012. doi: 10.1038/embor.2011.252. embor.embopress.org/content/13/2/106.
- SciELO – Menghini, ‘Publication in a Brazilian Journal by Brazilian Scientists whose Papers have International Impact’. Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, 43/9, 812–815. 2010. doi: 10.1590/S0100-879X2010007500073. scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-879X2010000900001&lng=en&tlng=en.
EVENTS
The second section of the bibliography and events part considers meetings, such as conferences, workshops, seminars and lectures, which the OPERAS Consortium has organized since 2012.
Partners of the OPERAS Research Infrastructure have long been organizing events relating to OA in general, and to OA in the SSH in particular. EKT, for instance, has hosted the Open Access Week in 2016 and the University of Zadar the Open Access Week Croatia in the same year. UC Digitalis has co-organized a panel on the impact of OA in the scientific community as part of the International Congress on the University Library, stressing the strong need for and effect of OA on the SSH, while UCL Press has presented OA publishing options at the Open Access Week 2015 and IBL PAN has co-organized a workshop on public humanities in 2017. The OPERAS Consortium has been especially involved with organizing and hosting events on best practices and case studies, as well as policy recommendations for OA publishing. E.g. OpenEdition/Cléo has been discussion leader for a workshop on non-profit OA ventures of significant scope in Europe in the framework of the 18th International Conference on Electronic Publishing. OAPEN in particular has focused on OA monographs, organizing a conference on that topic in 2013.
SSH AND DIGITAL OA PUBLISHING
- UCL Press – “University Press Redux Conference 2018”, The British Library Conference Centre, 13–14 February 2018 (forthcoming)
- University Ca’Foscari – “COAR Annual Meeting 2017”, Biblioteca Digitale di Ateno, 8 May 2017, coar-repositories.org/community/coar-annual-meeting-2017
- University Ca’Foscari – “Proprietà Intellettuale e Open Access nei Progetti Europei”, Biblioteca Digitale di Ateno, 1 February 2017, it/pag/fileadmin/user_upload/SBA/documenti/BDA/1Locandina.pdf
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “Open Access in the Humanities, Or: The Internet is not Going Away”, Open Access at UWE, University of the West of England, 18 January 2017, bbk.ac.uk/17961/
- University Ca’Foscari – “New Roles in Open Science and Data Stewardship”, Biblioteca Digitale di Ateno, 25 November 2016, phaidra.cab.unipd.it/detail_object/o:306049
- EKT – Open Access Week 2016, 24–27 October 2016, gr/el/events/2033
- University of Zadar – “Open Access Week Croatia”, 25 October 2016, openaccessweek.org/events/open-access-week-croatia
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “The Universal Library: Open Access and Why It Is So Hard“, Electronic Visualization and the Arts Pre Conference Symposium, British Computer Society, 11 July 2016, bbk.ac.uk/15739
- Göttingen UP – “Conference: ELPUB 2016 – 20th International Conference on Electronic Publishing”, Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, 7–9 June 2016
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul. “Open Access: The State of Play, or why it should be easy but why it isn’t…”, DARTS 5, Dartington Hall, 2–3 June 2016, bbk.ac.uk/15427
- IBL PAN – “Open Access to Scientific Publications”, Workshop co-organised with Platform for Open Science (PON), Warsaw, 17 May 2016
- AISA – “Nostra res agitur: la scienza aperta come questione sociale”, 22 October 2015, sp.unipi.it/attivita/i-convegno-annuale-aisa/programma
- UniTo – “Open Science: Horizons and Tools”, Open Access Week, 22 October 2014
THE NEED FOR OA PUBLISHING
- IBL PAN – “Public Humanities Workshop”, Co-organised as a DARIAH-EU funded project with Trinity College Dublin and the University of Ghent, Dublin, 23–24 May 2017, org/402650
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “Open Access in the Humanities: What, Why, and How”, CHASE Arts and Humanities in the Digital Age Winter School, Goldsmiths, University of London, 11–13 January 2017, bbk.ac.uk/17909
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “Open Access and the Humanities: Contexts, Controversies and the Future”, Interdisciplinary Seminar, UEA, 2 March 2016, bbk.ac.uk/15029/
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “Open Access: What it is and why it matters”, IDS Bulletin Launch Event, The British Library, 2 February 2016, bbk.ac.uk/14235/
- UniTo – “Humanities and Social Sciences and Open Access: an Opportunity”, Open Access Week, 22 October 2013
THE IMPACT OF OA PUBLISHING
- Ubiquity Press – Paul, Martin Paul; D’Oca, Gino; and Katy Shaw, “What does Open Access to Research Mean for the Humanities?”, The Future of the Humanities, Centre for Culture & the Arts, 4 July 2016, bbk.ac.uk/15693/
- Ubiquity Press – Edwards, Caroline, “ The Transformative Impact of the Open Agenda”, SCONUL Annual Conference, 22–24 June 2016, ac.uk/event/sconul-summer-conference-and-agm-2016
- UC Digitalis – “The Impact of Open Access in Scientific Community”, International Congress on The University Library: Permanence and Metamorphosis, Coimbra University Library, Co-organizer of the panel, 18 January 2014
BEST PRACTICES, CASE STUDIES, AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
- UC Digitalis – “Challenges in Implementing the National Policy of Open Science”, Coimbra University, Institute of Interdisciplinary Investigation, Workshop Co-organizer, 14–16 June 2017
- LingOA – “Eve, Martin Paul; Rooryck, Johan; and Saskia de Vries, “The Transition to Open Access: the State of the Market, Offsetting Deals, and a Demonstrated Model for Fair Open Access with the Open Library of Humanities”, ELPUB 2017, 6–8 June 2017
- LingOA – “Rooryck, Johan, “A Model for the Transition from Subscription to Fair Open Access”, Workshop Boosting Engagement of Serbian Universities in Open Science – BE-OPEN, 17–19 May 2017, eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Transition-to-FOA.pptx
- LingOA – “Rooryck, Johan; and Saskia de Vries, “Towards Fair Open Access. Science Europe Working Group on Open Access to Research Publications Workshop”, Challenging the Current Business Models in Academic Publishing – Accelerators and Obstacles to the Open Access Transition, 26–27 April 2017, eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Saskia-de-Vries-def-Science-Europe-workshop-Open-Access-Apr-2017.pptx
- IBL PAN – “Much More than Infrastructure: Working together to Connect Research – Workshop on Persistent Identifiers and Best-practices”, Co-organised with Crossref and Project THOR, Warsaw, 24 April 2017, pl/events/949/details
- LingOA – “Rooryck, Johan, “A Fair Open Access publishing model”, The Fiesole Collection Development Retreat Series, Université de Lille Sciences et Technologies, 19–21 April 2017
- LingOA – “Rooryck, Johan, “Fair Open Access: LingOA and Beyond”, Workshop: A Transition to Fair Open Access, Leiden University, 7 April 2017, eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Fair-Open-Access-7-april.pptx
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “Open Publishing Models for the Humanities”, Open in Practice, University of Reading, 30 March 2017, bbk.ac.uk/18407/
- LingOA – “Rooryck, Johan; Saskia de Vries, “A Transition to Fair Open Access: LingOA, MathOA, PsyOA”, 13th Berlin Open Access Conference: Building Capacity for the Transformation, 21–22 March 2017
- LingOA – “Rooryck, Johan, “Open Access Models for the Humanities and the Social Sciences”, LERU Social Sciences and Humanities Policy Group Meeting, 13–14 February 2017
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “Open Access in the Humanities and the Open Library of Humanities”, MA Publishing Programme, Kings College London, 9 February 2017, bbk. ac.uk/18103
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “Open Access in the Humanities and a New Funding Model”, 7ª Conferência Luso-Brasileira Sobre Acesso Aberto, Instituto Politécnico De Viseu, 1–3 November 2016, bbk.ac.uk/16600
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “A New Model for Open Access: The Open Library of Humanities One Year On”, University of London, 27 October 2016, bbk.ac.uk/16472
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “Open Access and the Open Library of Humanities”, Publishing Now, Birkbeck, University of London, 18 October 2016 bbk.ac.uk/16391/
- LingOA – Rooryck, Johan, “LingOA: a Roadmap to Fair Open Access”, Workshop Open Science – Knowledge for All, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, Lisbon, 29 March 2016
- Ubiquity Press – Eve, Martin Paul, “Open Access and its Politics”, Media, Film and Screen Studies Seminar, Brighton University, 25 April 2016, bbk.ac.uk/15031/
- UCL Press – “Open Access Publishing Options”, Open Access Week 2015, 21 October 2015
- University Ca’Foscari – “Open Access@Ca’Foscari”, Biblioteca Digitale di Ateno, 9 October 2015, cab.unipd.it/detail_object/o:68371
- Göttingen UP – “Workshop: Nachhaltige Absicherung von Open-Access-Publikationsfonds”, Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, 15–16 June 2015
- OpenEdition/Cléo – Mounier, Pierre, “Non-profit Open Access Ventures of Significant Scope in Europe”, 18th International Conference on Electronic Publishing, Discussion Leader, 17 June 2014, teithe.gr/index.php/programme/workshops?showall=&start=2
OA MONOGRAPHS
- OAPEN – “Open Access Monographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences Conference”, The British Library, 1–2 July 2013, ly/2uTAOAb
- Göttingen UP – “National Workshop on Open Access for Scholarly Monographs”, 2012
OA JOURNALS
- LingOA – Rooryck, Johan, “How and what to Choose: Journal Categories and Open Access”, Workshop International Quality Standards in Publishing, University of Vienna, 2 February 2017
- LingOA – Rooryck, Johan, “From Subscription to Open Access Journal: the Experience of a Mutinous editor”, Open Access Roundtable, EUI Florence, 27 September 2016