Little Reviews

On “Open Access in Poland,” by Liladhar Ramchan Pendse

On “Open Access in Poland,” by Liladhar Ramchan Pendse

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Liladhar Ramchan Pendse provides a broad view of the status of open access in Poland. To do so, they consider open access policy directives, the Polish Library of Open Science or Biblioteka Otwartej Nauki, and Polish presence in the ROARMap and DOAJ. Pendse concludes that there is a European Union influence on the development of OA in Poland, based on policy and presence in databases like ROARMap and the DOAJ. Work cited Pendse, Liladhar Ramchan. 2018. “Open Access in Poland.”…

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On “The Visibility of Open Access Monographs in a European Context: Full Report,” by Cameron Neylon et al.

On “The Visibility of Open Access Monographs in a European Context: Full Report,” by Cameron Neylon et al.

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In this Open Access Publications in Europe in Areas for Social Sciences and Humanities (OPERAS) report, Cameron Neylon, Lucy Montgomery, Alkim Ozaygen, Neil Saunders, and Frances Pinter study the visibility of open access monographs, particularly in Europe. They argue that it is currently difficult to track the usage of open access monographs, due to poor metadata standards and a lack of robust digital asset tracking. Neylon et al. come to this conclusion by studying the publishers involved in the OPERAS…

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On “Thoughts on Prestige, Quality, and Open Access,” by Peter Suber

On “Thoughts on Prestige, Quality, and Open Access,” by Peter Suber

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Peter Suber unpacks the relationship between prestige and journal publishing in “Thoughts on Prestige, Quality, and Open Access.” He argues that, despite suggestions to the contrary, the institutional emphasis on prestige in the academy does not have to be a barrier to open access (OA), which many feel is not as prestigious as toll access (TA) publishing. Prestige is not an obstacle to green OA, as authors may have the option to deposit pre- or post-prints of their TA articles…

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On “In Oldenburgś Long Shadow: Librarians, Research Scientists, Publishers, and the Control of Scientific Publishing,” by Jean-Claude Guedon

On “In Oldenburgś Long Shadow: Librarians, Research Scientists, Publishers, and the Control of Scientific Publishing,” by Jean-Claude Guedon

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In In Oldenburgś Long Shadow: Librarians, Research Scientists, Publishers, and the Control of Scientific Publishing, Jean-Claude Guédon assesses the state of academic publishing as of 2001, including library activities and commercial publisher strategies. This early contribution to the open scholarship / scholarly communication conversation was originally presented in a talk to the Association of Research Libraries. Guédon argues that libraries need to take a more prominent role in the dissemination elements of scholarly communication by actively supporting and being involved…

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On “Changing the Culture in Scholarly Communications,” by Alice Meadows

On “Changing the Culture in Scholarly Communications,” by Alice Meadows

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In this Scholarly Kitchen post, Alice Meadows suggests that we need to change the culture in the field of scholarly communication, especially around gender diversity. She points out that many working in the field are drawing attention to the lack of women working in more established positions. Meadows also suggests that there are other cultural elements of scholarly communication that should change as well, including around open scholarship, impact factors, tenure and promotion, and funding. Finally, as a disclosed FORCE…

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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 “Pragmatism vs. Idealism and the Identity Crisis of OER Advocacy,” by Rajiv Sunil Jhangiani

On “Pragmatism vs. Idealism and the Identity Crisis of OER Advocacy,” by Rajiv Sunil Jhangiani

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In “Pragmatism vs. Idealism and the Identity Crisis of OER Advocacy,” Rajiv Sunil Jhangiani comments on the divide in the open education community between pragmatic and idealistic approaches to Open Educational Resources (OER). The pragmatists argue that OER should be widely adopted because of the tangible, financial benefits for students; the idealists argue that OER represent an opportunity for radical pedagogy. Jhangiani argues that, in fact, a hybrid approach is necessary. Divisiveness will not further the movement, to Jhangiani’s eyes;…

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On “Access, Ethics and Piracy,” by Stuart Lawson

On “Access, Ethics and Piracy,” by Stuart Lawson

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In “Access, Ethics and Piracy,” Stuart Lawson briefly explores the phenomenon of “academic piracy,” or the sharing of copyrighted, toll access research on sites like SciHub or aaaaarg. He relies on the historical framework that Adrian Johns lays in his book Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates to reinforce the idea that intellectual property is not a natural or necessary state, and only came about in response to the rampant copying of books in 18th century England….

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On “Piracy, Public Access, and Preservation: An Exploration of Sustainable Accessibility in a Public Torrent Index,” by John D. Martin III

On “Piracy, Public Access, and Preservation: An Exploration of Sustainable Accessibility in a Public Torrent Index,” by John D. Martin III

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In “Piracy, Public Access, and Preservation: An Exploration of Sustainable Accessibility in a Public Torrent Index,” John D. Martin III considers the argument that torrent sites like The Pirate Bay should be considered as public libraries, as some torrent advocates have argued. He concludes that there is a massive amount of cultural material on The Pirate Bay and other similar sites, and that “the variety and richness of the content found in torrent networks may eventually represent a tragic loss…

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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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