open access : where is europe going ?

Cairn.infoChercher : Repérer : Avancer June 23, 2014

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Cairn.infoOpen Access : Where is Europe Going ?

AAUP Annual meeting – Monday 23rd, June 2014


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Cairn.info ? (1/2)

A platform : www.cairn.info

Founded in 2005 by Belgian and French publishers

Joined in by the BnF (French national Library)

Focused on Humanities and Social Sciences in French language

Proposing journals’ current issues (from 2001 onward)

As well as eBooks, Encyclopedias and Magazines


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Cairn.info ? (2/2)

Objectives / Principles :

Propose online the main francophone publications in the different fields of Humanities and Social Sciences

Develop a mix between free and paying content to maximize publications visibility & maintain a sustainable economic model for journals / publishers

Other specificities :

A company, gathering public and private stakeholders Public, not-for-profit and private publishers welcomed


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Open Access in Europe (1/5)

A Recommandation from the European Commission (July 2012), to all Union member states, prompting them to implement national policies to enable:

« Open access to publications resulting from publicly funded research as soon as possible,

preferably immediately and, in any case, no later than six months after the date of publication, and twelve months

for social sciences and humanities »


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Since then, different ways to Open Access have been explored by member states :

Try to manage a transition from the existing system to a new one where publication costs are mainly funded by APCs (United Kingdom)

Modify the law on copyright to reinforce scholars in their discussions with publishers regarding deposits in institutionnal repositories (Germany)

Mandate scholars to deposit pre-prints in institutionnal repositories after a significant embargo periods (Italy)

Promote deposits in instititionnal repositories after short embargo periods, but without mandates (France)



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In all countries, very few differences are made between disciplines:

Compared to STM, there is no « inescapable » journals in HSS

OA can potentially have some « side-effects » on other types of publications in HSS: essays, professional newspapers, etc.



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General interest journals

Research books in

HSS

Essays

Professional and

Technical Newspaper

s

Peer-review journals in

HSS

OA potential side-effects on other publishing markets


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General interest journals(5 M€)

Research books in HSS (65

M€)

Essays(111 M€)

Professional and

Technical Newspaper

s(800 M€)

Peer-review journals in

HSS (17 M€)

French Publishers - Source : SNE/DEPS/DGMIC – 2011

OA potential side-effects on other publishing markets


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In all countries, very few differences are made between disciplines:

Compared to STM, there is no « inescapable » journals in HSS

OA can potentially have some « side-effects » on other types of publications in HSS: essays, professional newspapers, etc.

In HSS, journals issues / articles’ « life cycle » can be much longer than in STM



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In all countries, the rising question is now the one of Books / eBooks:

EU recommandation : « publications » and not « journals »

Collective works of research and proceedings in particular are now often part of the agreements discussed between publishers and universities (Ex: Belgium)

Many new OA models are now exclusively focused on eBooks (Ex : Knowledge Unlatched)

The European Commission is promoting and funding projects aiming at enhancing the number of eBooks from European publishers available in OA (Ex: OAPEN)



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This discussion occurs at a moment when universities and small publishers are encountering serious financial hardships. Ex: France

Research libraries’ budgets, that remained more or less stable during the last 10 years, have decreased very significantly over the last two years (- 10% on average in 2014 and up to - 30% in some cases)

With the recent autonomy of French Universities (2007 - 2012), their payrolls have increased much quicker than their budgets (from 35% of their budget 5 years ago to 75% on average nowadays), which limits strongly other expenses

The French publishing industry is suffering from a strong economic downturn



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1rst Scenario: A strong and sustainable upstream funding

Probably not the Gold / APCs model for HSS, for « Traditionnal » or Mega journals

A « Platinum » model in which institutions / states could organize the funding of a given perimeter of publications

How can this evolve ? (1/3)


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1rst Scenario: Questions / Limits

This scenario would require a very strong and long-lasting political will

It would give rise to many questions in terms of publications perimeter, independance, editorial creativity, technical innovation, etc.

This system may end up being more expensive than the current one

While OA is generaly seen as a means to spend less rather than to spend better



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2nd Scenario: Reasonable and negociated embargo periods

Define the conditions of the co-existence of institutionnal repositories and publishing activities

The main question at this level being the one of embargoes

A study launched at this level in France, to assess the consequences of embargo periods on the journals / publishers economy



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Articles’ life cycle in humanities and social sciences

Consultations in institutions accessing Cairn.info


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Articles published during the last 12 months

= 18 % of interest in subscribing institutions


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Article « half-life » = 3,5 years


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Consultations in institutions accessing Cairn.infoWeight of articles published during the last 3 years

Differences by discipline


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Differences by journal


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Differences by journal

84%

18%


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3rd Scenario: A new paradigm for scholarly publishing

No more print (at all)

Publication first, Selection after

Get prepared for the attention economy !



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« It’s not easier to have many people access a book for free, than to have many people access it by

paying »

Philippe Aigrain

« OA Monographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences » Conference July 2013, British Library - London



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Thank you for your attention !

[email protected] / @tparisot

www.cairn.info / @cairnint

open access : where is europe going ?

Education