Comments on: Open Access and Professional Historians

By: Ian Gibson

Ian Gibson — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:20:18 +0000

Gold open access does not require Article Processing Charges (APCs). ‘Gold’ refers to work that is published in journals (that are mostly peer reviewed and free) whereas ‘Green’ refers to work made available through a digital repository. If you were to look at the journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals you would find that most of them do not require any kind of fee.

For more info about Green, Gold, Gratis, Libre, etc. see Peter Suber: http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm

By: Yvonne Perkins

Yvonne Perkins — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:36:52 +0000

Thanks for your comments Ron. You say that "the existing model isn't going to be replaced anytime soon", but it is being replaced as we speak. There have already been changes in Australia ie the new Australian Research Council requirements, the development of open access policies at Australian universities such as the Open Access Policy of Macquarie University and institutional repositories such as this one from the University of Queensland. The UK government and funding bodies are working through policies to change academic publishing there. Significantly it is academics themselves that are driving this change through their actions eg. the resignation of the board of editors for the Journal of Library Administration over issues relating to open access. While it costs some money to run an academic journal, it does not cost much. Authors, peer reviewers and members of editorial boards all donate their time for free. Yes, layout and formatting of the journal usually needs some skill that needs to be paid for. However, there are many publishing platforms that are available online at little cost and requiring little technical skill. The costs of running an academic journal are very low. We need to think outside the square, to set our imaginations alight. This debate is a tremendous opportunity to conceive of something that works better to stimulate good research and debate.

By: Ron Ringer

Ron Ringer — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:05:13 +0000

Well said, but as ever, the fundamental issue is one of publishers having to recoup costs and make a profit.No harm in that, but the cost to the researcher is prohibitive. There would have to be another model which allows a front end fee for as ‘much as you can eat’, so to speak. Pay by article is clearly ridiculous, but the existing model isn’t going to be replaced anytime soon. It’s easier said than done and one can hardly blame journals from wanting to seriously damage revenue flows.
Sounds defeatist? Not intended to, but the blog is a timely reminder that we should continue to look into this and keep the dialogue moving.