The Diamond Model of Open Access Publishing: Why Policy Makers, Scholars, Universities, Libraries, Labour Unions and the Publishing World Need to Take Non-Commercial, Non-Profit Open Access

This reflection introduces a new term to the debate on open access publishing: diamond open access (DOA) publishing. The debate on open access is a debate about the future of academia.

We discuss the problems of for-profit academic publishing, such as monopoly prices and access inequalities and point at the limits of contemporary perspectives on open access as they are frequently advanced by the publishing industry, policy makers and labour unions.

The article introduces a public service and commons perspective that stresses the importance of fostering and publicly supporting what we term the model of diamond open access.

It is a non-profit academic publishing model that makes academic knowledge a common good, reclaims the common character of the academic system and entails the possibility for fostering job security by creating public service publishing jobs.

Existing concepts such as “gold open access” have serious conceptual limits that can be overcome by introducing the new term of diamond open access. The debate on open access lacks visions and requires social innovations.

This article is a policy intervention and reflection on current issues related to open access (OA) publishing. It reflects on the following questions:

  • What should the role of open access be in the future of academic publishing and academia?
  • How should the future of academic publishing and academia look like?
  • Which reforms of academic policy making are needed in relation to open access publishing?

We want to trigger a new level of the open access debate. We invite further reflections on these questions by academics, policy makers, publishers, publishing workers, labour unions, open access publishing associations, editors and librarians.

URL : http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/502
Un résumé français de l’article est accessible sur http://oadesk.hypotheses.org/298 (ce résumé a été rédigé par Benjamin Caraco)

Multidimensional Journal Evaluation of PLOS ONE PLOS

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“PLOS ONE (formerly PLoS ONE) is an international open access online journal published by the Public Library of Science. The periodical covers all science and medicine categories and has published as many as 28,852 documents from 2007 to 2011. PLOS ONE will be used to show the range of journal metrics and informetric methods regarding validity, practicability and informative value. To assess this data as specifically as possible and to address all relevant factors, the evaluation is split into five dimensions, each of which involves distinct metrics. The five dimensions are journal output, journal content, journal perception, journal citations and journal management. Each of them is pointed out in the process of the analyses, and all significant evaluation results are presented. The results show that PLOS ONE has experienced an enormous development. Because of a relatively low rejection rate of 31%, its openness towards a multitude of different research areas, an internationally large peer review community, and its open access, a plurality of documents can be published in comparison with a print-journal or other online periodicals. The results of the evaluation indicate that PLOS ONE should be assessed from numerous perspectives because there are a variety of indicators beyond the impact factor that can be made use of in order to evaluate exhaustively the standing of the journal as well as its prestige and impact.”

URL : http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/libr.2013.63.issue-4/libri-2013-0021/libri-2013-0021.xml?format=INT

Starting Scholarly Conversations A Scholarly Communication Outreach Program…

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Starting Scholarly Conversations: A Scholarly Communication Outreach Program :

“As the scholarly communication system continues to evolve, academic librarians should take an active role in both developing their own knowledge and educating their campus communities about emergent topics. At Furman University, librarians developed an outreach program, aimed primarily at faculty, to increase awareness of current scholarly communication issues. Expert speakers were recruited to present throughout the year on open access, altmetrics, author’s rights, and other relevant topics. This program addressed a number of needs simultaneously—outreach to faculty; education for Furman librarians; and education for the greater library community—and affirmed the importance of providing opportunities to discuss these issues beyond the libraries. The program also further established Furman University Libraries’ role in educating and guiding its campus community through changes in scholarly communication models and practices.”

URL : http://jlsc-pub.org/jlsc/vol2/iss1/2/

Just Roll with It Rolling Volumes vs Discrete…

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Just Roll with It? Rolling Volumes vs. Discrete Issues in Open Access Library and Information Science Journals :

INTRODUCTION : Articles in open access (OA) journals can be published on a rolling basis, as they become ready, or in complete, discrete issues. This study examines the prevalence of and reasons for rolling volumes vs. discrete issues among scholarly OA library and information science (LIS) journals based in the United States.
METHODS : A survey was distributed to journal editors, asking them about their publication model and their reasons for and satisfaction with that model. RESULTS Of the 21 responding journals, 12 publish in discrete issues, eight publish in rolling volumes, and one publishes in rolling volumes with an occasional special issue. Almost all editors, regardless of model, cited ease of workflow as a justification for their chosen publication model, suggesting that there is no single best workflow for all journals. However, while all rolling-volume editors reported being satisfied with their model, satisfaction was less universal among discrete-issue editors.
DISCUSSION : The unexpectedly high number of rolling-volume journals suggests that LIS journal editors are making forward-looking choices about publication models even though the topic has not been much addressed in the library literature. Further research is warranted; possibilities include expanding the study’s geographic scope, broadening the study to other disciplines, and investigating publication model trends across the entire scholarly OA universe.
CONCLUSION : Both because satisfaction is high among editors of rolling-volume journals and because readers and authors appreciate quick publication times, the rolling-volume model will likely become even more prevalent in coming years.”

SciELO 15 Years of Open Access an analytic…

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SciELO – 15 Years of Open Access: an analytic study on Open Access and scholarly communication :

“The 15 year path taken by the SciELO Program in bringing about the improvement of the academic journals which it indexes and publishes in Open Access – a path which it continues to follow to this day – is examined from various perspectives such as the rationale and objectives of the program, its origin in Brazil and expansion to 15 other countries, the results it has achieved, its quality control and production system, the technological platform and the impact that has been made by the Program.”

URL : http://www.scielo.org/php/level.php?component=42&item=29&lang=en

Open Access literature productivity of Physics A DOAJ…

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Open Access literature productivity of Physics: A DOAJ Perspective :

“The World Wide Web has introduced new vistas for scholarly publishing which can be accessed online via internet. DOAJ is the most accepted and authoritative list of scholarly, peer-reviewed, fully Open Access journals. This study aims to analyze the contribution of open access literature in the subject physics through DOAJ. Directory of Open Access Journals covers literature contribution of a wide variety of subjects, countries and also different languages. Study analyses Indian contribution to DOAJ, institution-wise categorization, language-wise distribution.”

URL : http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/971/

Analysis of Open Access Scholarly Journals in Media…

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Analysis of Open Access Scholarly Journals in Media & Communication :

“The paper gives an account of the origin and development of the Open Access Initiative and explains the concept of open access publishing. It also highlight various facets related to the open access scholarly publishing in the field of Media & Communication on the basis of data collected from the most authoritative online directory of open access journals, i.e., Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The DOAJ covers 8492 open access journals of which 106 journals are listed under the subject heading ‘Media & Communication’. Most of the open access journals in Media & Communication were started during late 1990s and are being published from 34 different countries on 6 continents in 13 different languages. More than 80 % open access journals are being published by the not-for-profit sector such as academic institutions and universities.”

URL : http://publications.drdo.gov.in/ojs/index.php/djlit/article/view/5106