[GOAL] Re: Hat Tip: Let's not leave Humanities behind in the dash for open access

Thu Jul 26 14:51:28 BST 2012

Webster describes three distinct differences between the humanities and the
sciences that could explain why the former seems "left behind":

1) HUM research has less of a need for speed
2) The monograph, rather than journal articles, is central to HUM
scholarship
3) Only a small portion of HUM research is directly funded by grants.

The conclusion: a discrepancy persists between the demands of HUM
scholarship and the promise of open access. Two solutions to this conundrum
exist: either the arts and humanities adjust to open access, or vice versa.
Both solutions are considered in this debate, yet I think the latter option
is often prematurely dismissed as unrealistic. This post serves to inform
about an existing and functional model that takes the needs of HUM
scholarship as a starting point and effectively meets those needs within
existing institutions - and without demanding fees from authors.

 Over recent years, Amsterdam University
Press<http://www.aup.nl/do.php?a=show_visitor_home&m=28&l=2>has
published around
*400 monographs fully and freely accessible *through various repositories,
including OAPEN <http://www.oapen.org/home>. Through a combination of print
sales and institutional subsidies on one hand and a non-profit status on
the other, authors personally contributing in the author fee is exception
rather than rule.

Balancing sales and subsidy income to accomplish open access book
publishing in a sustainable fashion is no easy task - especially with
monograph sales in continuous free-fall. In fact: if institutional
subsidies do not pick up, this model might lose viability. Therefore, two
matters are essential for the future of this business model for HUM
publishing: firstly, that grand institutional commitments to open access
(such as the Horizon 2020 or the UK announcement) include monographs in
their mandate. Secondly, the thousands of independent research-funding
institutions involved in HUM scholarship should recognize their role in the
transition to a sustainable open access publishing apparatus, and meet
(reasonable) publication costs.

If these demands are met, the gold route effectively becomes platinum from
the author's perspective, without compromising on quality as often happens
with green models.

Kind regards,

Gert van Vugt
Intern at Amsterdam University Press

On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 3:35 PM, Leslie Carr <lac at ecs.soton.ac.uk> wrote:

> Is platinum effectively the same as green?
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 26 Jul 2012, at 14:12, "Beall, Jeffrey" <Jeffrey.Beall at ucdenver.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > I make the distinction between gold open-access and platinum open-access.
> >
> >    Author fees + free to reader = gold open access
> >    No author fees + free to reader = platinum open access
> >
> > This discussion, I think, demonstrates that this distinction is
> significant and worthy of a separate appellation.
> >
> >
> > Jeffrey Beall, Metadata Librarian / Associate Professor
> > Auraria Library
> > University of Colorado Denver
> > 1100 Lawrence St.
> > Denver, Colo.  80204 USA
> > (303) 556-5936
> > jeffrey.beall at ucdenver.edu
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: goal-bounces at eprints.org [mailto:goal-bounces at eprints.org] On
> Behalf Of Reckling, Falk, Dr.
> > Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 4:53 AM
> > To: Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)
> > Subject: [GOAL] Re: Hat Tip: Let's not leave Humanities behind in the
> dash for open access
> >
> >
> > I think there is still a misunderstanding with Gold OA. Running a OA
> journal does not necesserily mean to charges article fees!
> >
> > Take Economics as an example: meanwhile there are some good OA journals,
> most of them are new but with very prominent advisory boards (which is a
> good predictor of being successful in the long run)
> >
> > a) E-conomics (institutional funding):
> > http://www.economics-ejournal.org/
> >
> > b) Theoretical Economics (society based funding): http://econtheory.org/
> >
> > c) 5x IZA journals published with SpringerOpen (institutional funding):
> > http://journals.iza.org/
> >
> > d) Journal of Economic Perspective (a former subscription journal but
> now society based funding):
> > http://www.aeaweb.org/jep/index.php
> >
> > All of them are without APCs, and that model also works in many other
> fields.
> >
> > What is needed is a very good editorial board and a basic funding by an
> institution/society, or by a consortium of institutions or by a charity or
> ...
> >
> > Or why not considering a megajournal in the Humanities and apply a
> clever business model as PEERJ tries it right now in the Life Science?:
> http://peerj.com/
> >
> > In the end, it is up to the community to develop models which fit their
> needs ...
> >
> > Best Falk
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Am 26.07.2012 um 12:09 schrieb "l.hurtado at ed.ac.uk" <l.hurtado at ed.ac.uk
> >:
> >
> >> The question isn't whether they're free or not, but whether they play
> >> major roles as venues and outlets for important Humanities
> >> scholarship.  And also it's still the case that traditional print
> >> journals involve long print cues and delays in publication.  And also
> >> it's the case that university libraries paying ridiculous subscription
> >> charges for journals in the Sciences have less funding for monographs
> >> (still the gold standard in Humanities), and even put pressure on
> >> Humanities to cut their journals.
> >> Finally, there is the concern that the current move to "gold OA" with
> >> pages charges, etc., will adversely affect Humanities scholars.
> >> So, please, no snap and simple replies.  Let's engage the problems.
> >> Larry Hurtado
> >>
> >> Quoting Jan Szczepanski <jan.szczepanski63 at gmail.com> on Wed, 25 Jul
> >> 2012 22:53:06 +0200:
> >>
> >>> Is more than sixteen thousand free e-journals in the humanities and
> >>> social sciences of any importance in this discussion?
> >>>
> >>> http://www.scribd.com/Jan%20Szczepanski
> >>>
> >>> Jan
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> 2012/7/25  <l.hurtado at ed.ac.uk>:
> >>>> Webster concisely articulates the concerns that I briefly mooted a
> >>>> few days ago.
> >>>> Larry Hurtado
> >>>>
> >>>> Quoting Omega Alpha Open Access <oa.openaccess at gmail.com> on Wed, 25
> >>>> Jul 2012 11:03:30 -0400:
> >>>>
> >>>>> Hat Tip: Let's not leave Humanities behind in the dash for open
> >>>>> access http://wp.me/p20y83-no
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Nice article this morning by Peter Webster on the Research
> >>>>> Fortnight website entitled "Humanities left behind in the dash for
> >>>>> open access."
> >>>>> <http://www.researchresearch.com/index.php?option=com_news&template
> >>>>> =rr_2col&view=article&articleId=1214091> Check it out.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Webster observes that much of the current conversation around the
> >>>>> growth of open access focuses on the sciences and use of an
> >>>>> "author-pays" business model. He feels inadequate attention in the
> >>>>> conversation has been given to the unique needs of humanities
> >>>>> scholarship, and why it may be harder for humanist scholars to
> >>>>> embrace open access based on the "author-pays" model.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> "There is no Public Library of History to match the phenomenally
> >>>>> successful Public Library of Science."
> >>>>> .
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Your comments are welcome.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Gary F. Daught
> >>>>> Omega Alpha | Open Access
> >>>>> Advocate for open access academic publishing in religion and
> >>>>> theology http://oaopenaccess.wordpress.com oa.openaccess @
> >>>>> gmail.com | @OAopenaccess
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>> GOAL mailing list
> >>>>> GOAL at eprints.org
> >>>>> http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> L. W. Hurtado, PhD, FRSE
> >>>> Emeritus Professor of New Testament Language, Literature & Theology
> >>>> Honorary Professorial Fellow New College (School of Divinity)
> >>>> University of Edinburgh Mound Place Edinburgh, UK. EH1 2LX Office
> >>>> Phone:  (0)131 650 8920. FAX:  (0)131 650 7952 www.ed.ac.uk/divinity
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
> >>>> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> GOAL mailing list
> >>>> GOAL at eprints.org
> >>>> http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Jan Szczepański
> >>> F.d Förste bibliotekare och chef för f.d Avdelningen för humaniora
> >>> vid Göteborgs universitetsbibliotek
> >>> E-post: Jan.Szczepanski63 at gmail.com
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> GOAL mailing list
> >>> GOAL at eprints.org
> >>> http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> L. W. Hurtado, PhD, FRSE
> >> Emeritus Professor of New Testament Language, Literature & Theology
> >> Honorary Professorial Fellow New College (School of Divinity)
> >> University of Edinburgh Mound Place Edinburgh, UK. EH1 2LX Office
> >> Phone:  (0)131 650 8920. FAX:  (0)131 650 7952 www.ed.ac.uk/divinity
> >>
> >> --
> >> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
> >> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> GOAL mailing list
> >> GOAL at eprints.org
> >> http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal
> >
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