oa in humanities and social sciences

OA in the Humanities and Social Sciences

5th Conference on Open Access Scholarly Publishing

September 18-20, 2013, Riga

Eelco Ferwerda OAPEN Foundation

Contents

– HSS versus STM– DOAJ– P versus E– Attitudes– Anxieties– Funding– Business models in HSS– How libraries can make a difference

OA benefits all research

‘Whether a given line of research serves wellness or wisdom, energy or enlightenment, protein synthesis or public safety, OA helps it serve those purposes faster, better, and more universally.’

Peter Suber, ‘Open Access’ (MIT Press, 2012)

HSS versus STM

DOAJ:

–Journals:»55 % STM – 45 % HSS

–How about articles?–How about APC’s?

Most OA publishing in HSS works without money

Research output in HSS

• AHRC estimates just a third of research output is in the form of articles, two-thirds is books (Humanities)

• Monographs are the preferred genre

• Print is the preferred format

• E is growing for discovery and reading

• Print remains the primary edition

Reading habits

Reading habits

Expanded timescales

• Our workshops with authors and publishers confirmed that a book takes on average 3 years to create

• Peer reviewing a book is a bigger commitment than an article

• The editors in the interviews spoke of the ‘lifetimes’ authors spend on research

• This is an output that reflects years of work

http://oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org/

Business Models

• Publishers often have to cost recover on the single entity of the book

• Some titles are a gamble – bigger risk than an article

• HSS researchers need that first book for their first job or for promotion – asking the publisher to take a risk, not as predominant in STEM

Anxiety

Our institutional case studies, workshops and focus groups show that there is an anxiety in HSS

- worried about getting published

- worried about access to funding if goes gold

- worried about new licensing models (even though they now retain copyright – makes them nervous)

• understand anxieties

• address / explore them

• make authors feel more confident

• explain why RCUK prefers CC BY

• help authors feel equipped to negotiate

HSS funding

OA business models in HSS

• HSS has less access to funding, particularly central funding for ‘Gold OA’, based on OA publication funds

• HSS needs other models to achieve OA:

• Emergence of ‘Library side’ models– Based on libraries’ existing acquisitions budget– Three examples:

Knowledge Unlatched

Libraries purchase OA books:

• Libraries form a global consortium• Use their existing acquisitions budget • Select individually, purchase collectively • Price based on fixed or ‘first digital copy’ costs• Libraries receive value-added edition• Monographs are then published Open Access

– First pilot underway– Approx. 20 publishers, 30 libraries

http://www.knowledgeunlatched.org/

OpenEditionLibraries license OA content:

– OpenEdition Freemium– Free content online (HTML)– Premium content (PDF, e-reader formats) and

services for libraries– Revenues split 1/3-2/3 between OpenEdition and

publishers

• Intended to:– make OA content discoverable– provide a business model for OA content– help sustain platform

http://www.openedition.org

Open Library of Humanities

Libraries ‘subscribe’ to OA journal:

• OLH: megajournal for HSS– Inspired by PLOS ONE– Initiative of Martin Eve & Caroline Edwards– different business model:

Library Partnership Subsidy– subscription model:

• Many libraries > low subsidies!

https://www.openlibhums.org/

Opportunity for Libraries

Libraries can make a difference for OA, especially in HSS, but:

– We can’t sell library side models door-to-door– Libraries have been the driving force of the

OA movement– They need to take another step, by organizing

themselves– Getting involved in the transition to OA

Opportunity for Libraries

• What if research libraries supporting OA:

– Reserved a small, fixed percentage of their acquisitions budget

for OA initiatives

– Established a Strategic Library Alliance for the transition to OA

– Use this budget to help develop the road to OA

• (The percentage could become a moving target, a moving wall

between OA and TA)

Disclaimers:– We don’t expect Libraries to solve the transition by themselves– Libraries are not cash machines that will make OA work– Libraries should help determine how OA will work

Thank you!

Eelco Ferwerda

e.ferwerda@oapen.org

www.oapen.org

www.doabooks.org