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Open Access - A Review after 10 Years
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Open Access - A Review after 10 Years

A special issue of Publications (ISSN 2304-6775).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2013) | Viewed by 89308

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. John J. Regazzi

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Guest Editor
Palmer School of Library and Information Science, College of Education, Information and Technology, Long Island University, Brookville, New York 11548, USA
Interests: electronic information services; scholarly communications; professional workflow solutions; electronic publishing; strategic planning; information economics; the information industry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Open access, at its core, is about increasing the number of people who can get and use a specific piece of information. The printing press and moveable type represented perhaps the biggest technological and social leap toward an open access ideal that history has seen, leading to widespread literacy. Centuries later, the publishing industry embraced other technological innovations to reduce printing and distribution costs for the sake of increasing the potential audience. Economic interests aside, such an increase in audience is in full accord with open access principles.

Significant progress toward true open access, however, didn’t begin until the early 1960s, when  a select number of scholars first began pushing for easier access to research publications. Perhaps the most notable and truly international declaration for open access took place in the “Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities”. This declaration emerged in 2003 from a conference on open access hosted in Berlin by the Max Planck Society. Organizations that commit to implementing this definition of open access can sign on to the declaration, and as of today thousands of scientific and academic organizations have signed the declaration.

The intention of this Special Issue – Open Access after 10 years -  is to assess,  in plain terms, 1) how the Berlin declaration has changed the face of scholarly publications; 2) the most significant developments and enhancements, beyond the Berlin Declaration, in the last 10 years; and 3) how open access may continue and contribute to scholarly communications in the future.

I look forward to your contributions to this important topic.

Prof. Dr. John J. Regazzi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Publications is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • open access
  • electronic publishing
  • publishing business models
  • green open access
  • gold open access
  • government regulation of scholarly journals

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

322 KiB  
Article
The Open Access Divide
by Jingfeng Xia
Publications 2013, 1(3), 113-139; https://doi.org/10.3390/publications1030113 - 17 Oct 2013
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 10035
Abstract
This paper is an attempt to review various aspects of the open access divide regarding the difference between those academics who support free sharing of data and scholarly output and those academics who do not. It provides a structured description by adopting the [...] Read more.
This paper is an attempt to review various aspects of the open access divide regarding the difference between those academics who support free sharing of data and scholarly output and those academics who do not. It provides a structured description by adopting the Ws doctrines emphasizing such questions as who, what, when, where and why for information-gathering. Using measurable variables to define a common expression of the open access divide, this study collects aggregated data from existing open access as well as non-open access publications including journal articles and extensive reports. The definition of the open access divide is integrated into the discussion of scholarship on a larger scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Open Access - A Review after 10 Years)
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210 KiB  
Article
Mandates and the Contributions of Open Genomic Data
by Jingfeng Xia
Publications 2013, 1(3), 99-112; https://doi.org/10.3390/publications1030099 - 14 Oct 2013
Viewed by 6533
Abstract
This research attempts to seek changing patterns of raw data availability and their correlations with implementations of open mandate policies. With a list of 13,785 journal articles whose authors archived datasets in a popular biomedical data repository after these articles were published in [...] Read more.
This research attempts to seek changing patterns of raw data availability and their correlations with implementations of open mandate policies. With a list of 13,785 journal articles whose authors archived datasets in a popular biomedical data repository after these articles were published in journals, this research uses regression analysis to test the correlations between data contributions and mandate implementations. It finds that both funder-based and publisher-based mandates have a strong impact on scholars’ likelihood to contribute to open data repositories. Evidence also suggests that like policies have changed the habit of authors in selecting publishing venues: open access journals have been apparently preferred by those authors whose projects are sponsored by the federal government agencies, and these journals are also highly ranked in the biomedical fields. Various stakeholders, particularly institutional administrators and open access professionals, may find the findings of this research helpful for adjusting data management policies to increase the number of quality free datasets and enhance data usability. The data-sharing example in biomedical studies provides a good case to show the importance of policy-making in the reshaping of scholarly communication. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Open Access - A Review after 10 Years)
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3486 KiB  
Article
Open Access and the Changing Landscape of Research Impact Indicators: New Roles for Repositories
by Isabel Bernal
Publications 2013, 1(2), 56-77; https://doi.org/10.3390/publications1020056 - 19 Jul 2013
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 16267
Abstract
The debate about the need to revise metrics that evaluate research excellence has been ongoing for years, and a number of studies have identified important issues that have yet to be addressed. Internet and other technological developments have enabled the collection of richer [...] Read more.
The debate about the need to revise metrics that evaluate research excellence has been ongoing for years, and a number of studies have identified important issues that have yet to be addressed. Internet and other technological developments have enabled the collection of richer data and new approaches to research assessment exercises. Open access strongly advocates for maximizing research impact by enhancing seamless accessibility. In addition, new tools and strategies have been used by open access journals and repositories to showcase how science can benefit from free online dissemination. Latest players in the debate include initiatives based on alt-metrics, which enrich the landscape with promising indicators. To start with, the article gives a brief overview of the debate and the role of open access in advancing a new frame to assess science. Next, the work focuses on the strategy that the Spanish National Research Council’s repository DIGITAL.CSIC is implementing to collect a rich set of statistics and other metrics that are useful for repository administrators, researchers and the institution alike. A preliminary analysis of data hints at correlations between free dissemination of research through DIGITAL.CSIC and enhanced impact, reusability and sharing of CSIC science on the web. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Open Access - A Review after 10 Years)
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156 KiB  
Communication
The Importance of Free and Open Source Software and Open Standards in Modern Scientific Publishing
by Michael L. Wilson and Vakhtang Tchantchaleishvili
Publications 2013, 1(2), 49-55; https://doi.org/10.3390/publications1020049 - 26 Jun 2013
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 9300
Abstract
In this paper we outline the reasons why we believe a reliance on the use of proprietary computer software and proprietary file formats in scientific publication have negative implications for the conduct and reporting of science. There is increasing awareness and interest in [...] Read more.
In this paper we outline the reasons why we believe a reliance on the use of proprietary computer software and proprietary file formats in scientific publication have negative implications for the conduct and reporting of science. There is increasing awareness and interest in the scientific community about the benefits offered by free and open source software. We discuss the present state of scientific publishing and the merits of advocating for a wider adoption of open standards in science, particularly where it concerns the publishing process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Open Access - A Review after 10 Years)
510 KiB  
Article
Open Access Publishing in Canada: Current and Future Library and University Press Supports
by Donald Taylor, Heather Morrison, Brian Owen, Kumiko Vézina and Andrew Waller
Publications 2013, 1(1), 27-48; https://doi.org/10.3390/publications1010027 - 18 Jun 2013
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 13412
Abstract
Canadian university libraries, Canadian university presses, and non-university scholarly presses at Canadian universities were surveyed in the first part of 2010 as to the level of their support of Open Access (OA) journal publishing. Respondents were asked about journal hosting services in their [...] Read more.
Canadian university libraries, Canadian university presses, and non-university scholarly presses at Canadian universities were surveyed in the first part of 2010 as to the level of their support of Open Access (OA) journal publishing. Respondents were asked about journal hosting services in their organization as well as their thoughts on internal and external support for open access publishing. Results showed that most of the organizations are hosting OA journals, largely between one and five in number, and many supply journal hosting services, including some technical support. Personnel resources are a notable factor in the ability to host journals. Most respondents engage in some sort of internal support for open access publishing and are open to options that they are presently not utilizing. They are particularly amenable to OA publishing support from outside of their organizations, especially assistance at a consortial level. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Open Access - A Review after 10 Years)
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200 KiB  
Article
Types of Open Access Publishers in Scopus
by David Solomon
Publications 2013, 1(1), 16-26; https://doi.org/10.3390/publications1010016 - 6 May 2013
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 18796
Abstract
This study assessed characteristics of publishers who published 2010 open access (OA) journals indexed in Scopus. Publishers were categorized into six types; professional, society, university, scholar/researcher, government, and other organizations. Type of publisher was broken down by number of journals/articles published in 2010, [...] Read more.
This study assessed characteristics of publishers who published 2010 open access (OA) journals indexed in Scopus. Publishers were categorized into six types; professional, society, university, scholar/researcher, government, and other organizations. Type of publisher was broken down by number of journals/articles published in 2010, funding model, location, discipline and whether the journal was born or converted to OA. Universities and societies accounted for 50% of the journals and 43% of the articles published. Professional publisher accounted for a third of the journals and 42% of the articles. With the exception of professional and scholar/researcher publishers, most journals were originally subscription journals that made at least their digital version freely available. Arts, humanities and social science journals are largely published by societies and universities outside the major publishing countries. Professional OA publishing is most common in biomedicine, mathematics, the sciences and engineering. Approximately a quarter of the journals are hosted on national/international platforms, in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia largely published by universities and societies without the need for publishing fees. This type of collaboration between governments, universities and/or societies may be an effective means of expanding open access publications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Open Access - A Review after 10 Years)
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194 KiB  
Article
Open Access—Are the Barriers to Change Receding?
by Bo-Christer Björk
Publications 2013, 1(1), 5-15; https://doi.org/10.3390/publications1010005 - 12 Apr 2013
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 13831
Abstract
The move from subscription only publishing of scholarly articles to open access has been much slower than previously anticipated by many Open Access (OA) advocates. Despite the many advantages that OA offers, this particular branch of E-commerce imposes several formidable barriers to change. [...] Read more.
The move from subscription only publishing of scholarly articles to open access has been much slower than previously anticipated by many Open Access (OA) advocates. Despite the many advantages that OA offers, this particular branch of E-commerce imposes several formidable barriers to change. A framework conceptualizing these barriers that was developed over a decade ago was revisited to see if the significance of these barriers has changed. Nowadays, building the IT infrastructure, support from indexing services and finding a sustainable business model are no longer important barriers. For gold OA publishing the academic reward system is still a major obstacle, whereas more marketing and critical mass is needed for both gold OA and green OA. Green OA self-archiving is still also strongly affected by what subscription publishers allow. In the overall balance the situation has nevertheless improved significantly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Open Access - A Review after 10 Years)
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