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Category: journals

On “The Forbidden Forecast: Thinking About Open Access and Library Subscriptions,” by Rick Anderson

On “The Forbidden Forecast: Thinking About Open Access and Library Subscriptions,” by Rick Anderson

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In “The Forbidden Forecast: Thinking About Open Access and Library Subscriptions,” Rick Anderson considers and advocates in favour for the potentially disruptive role of Green OA on subscriptions budgets. He argues that without cancelling subscriptions alongside moving to Green OA, library budgets will not recover. Anderson brings attention to the fact that more OA articles is not what is needed; rather, a transition from toll access to open access is the action that would have the largest impact. Although Anderson…

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On “From the Field: Elsevier as an Open Access Publisher,” by Heather Morrison

On “From the Field: Elsevier as an Open Access Publisher,” by Heather Morrison

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Heather Morrison explores Elsevier’s current open access practices, and the feasibility of transitioning Elsevier to a full open access publisher. She concludes that although Elsevier has boosted its quantity of full and hybrid open access journals substantially in recent years (511 full OA and 2,149 hybrid OA journals), it is unlikely that the publisher will become a fully open access venture as they would miss out on substantial revenue that could not feasibly be recovered through article processing charges (APCs)…

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On “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,” by Martin Paul Eve, Saskia C.J. de Vries, and Johan Rooryck

On “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,” by Martin Paul Eve, Saskia C.J. de Vries, and Johan Rooryck

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Martin Paul Eve, Saskia C.J. de Vries, and Johan Rooryck explore gold open access practices, especially in the Netherlands. They point out that, worldwide, commercial publishers are still guaranteeing their journal revenue in open access scenarios, either by subscriptions to hybrid journals, article processing charges (APCs), or some combination thereof. The authors then offer a case study alternative to such practices: LingOA, a group of linguistics journals that have agreed to fair open access practices. Eve et al. argue that…

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On “Final Report, Canadian Scholarly Publishing Working Group”

On “Final Report, Canadian Scholarly Publishing Working Group”

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The Final Report of the Canadian Scholarly Publishing Working Group outlines the current challenges to the Canadian academic publishing system, as well as suggests principles to guide a successful, sustainable system moving forward. These principles include accountability (to the academy), supporting openness and high-quality publishing practices, well-informed authors, dynamic Canadian publishing opportunities, building on strength, and flexibility and adaptability. The report applauds initiatives like the collaboration between Érudit and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network to bring more open access journals…

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On “Creating Digital Knowledge: Library as Open Access Digital Publisher,” by Russell Bailey

On “Creating Digital Knowledge: Library as Open Access Digital Publisher,” by Russell Bailey

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As more and more scholarship becomes digital, the role of libraries and librarians is changing. Russell Bailey comments on the possibilities for university libraries in the digital age. In particular, he argues that there are increasing opportunities for libraries to facilitate or even produce open access digital scholarship. Bailey walks his readers through three examples of digital scholarship projects led by Providence College: a multimedia monograph and two online journals. He concludes that open access digital publishing in higher education…

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On “Activism, Legitimation, or Record: Towards a New Tripartite Typology of Academic Journals,” by Casey Brienza

On “Activism, Legitimation, or Record: Towards a New Tripartite Typology of Academic Journals,” by Casey Brienza

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In “Activism, Legitimation, or Record: Towards a New Tripartite Typology of Academic Journals,” Casey Brienza aims to typologize academic journals based on their social or professional purpose. To do so, she reviews and critiques previous typologies of journals, and develops her own typology in response. Brienza argues that there are 3 types of journals: journals of professional legitimation, journals of record, and journals of transformational activism. She suggests that publishers “would do best to focus on playing a mutualistic role…

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On Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy, by Kathleen Fitzpatrick

On Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy, by Kathleen Fitzpatrick

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In the oft-cited touchstone book Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy, Kathleen Fitzpatrick examines the current academic publishing system, and outlines its drawbacks and possibilities. She suggests that the current fixation on the printed book monograph, at least in the humanities, needs to change. For Fitzpatrick, the monograph is part of an undead, zombie logic of the academy, as it represents a mandatory but often dysfunctional system of scholarly communication. Beyond the monograph, Fitzpatrick argues, we…

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On “In Defense of Open Access: Or, Why I Stopped Worrying and Started an OA Journal,” by Megan Lowe

On “In Defense of Open Access: Or, Why I Stopped Worrying and Started an OA Journal,” by Megan Lowe

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In the article “In Defense of Open Access: Or, Why I Stopped Worrying and Started an OA Journal,” Megan Lowe describes Codex, an open access (OA) journal that she edits. Lowe frames the Codex summary within a larger framework of the critique of OA publishing as not being rigorous enough (especially in a 2013 study done by John Bohannon where he criticizes peer review in OA publications). By contrast, Lowe argues that peer review issues are not endemic only to…

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On “Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria,” by James Somers

On “Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria,” by James Somers

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In this article for The Atlantic, James Somers explores why the original dream behind Google Books — and perhaps even behind Google itself, Somers suggests — has been quashed. Somers traces the trajectory of Google Books, from the centuries-long pipe dream of creating the world’s largest library in “one place” to its current manifestation: alive, but with utopic vision unrealized. Somers provides a compelling account of the class action lawsuit between Google and a coalition of authors and publishers, as…

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On “Open Access Mandates and the ‘Fair Dealing’ Button,” by Arthur Sale, Marc Couture, Eloy Rodrigues, Les Carr, and Stevan Harnad

On “Open Access Mandates and the ‘Fair Dealing’ Button,” by Arthur Sale, Marc Couture, Eloy Rodrigues, Les Carr, and Stevan Harnad

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In “Open Access Mandates and the ‘Fair Dealing’ Button,” Arthur Sale, Marc Couture, Eloy Rodrigues, Les Carr, and Stevan Harnad discuss the provision of a “fair dealing button” on research that is deposited in a funder’s or institution’s repository. The fair dealing button developed out of the longstanding tradition of individuals writing to authors to request a copy of their article. With the fair dealing button, this process is automated. But how does this function connect to the open access…

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