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/
OpenEdition
Libraries 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