Category: Scholarly Journals

University of Oregon Libraries and Oregon State University Libraries Establish Open Access Journal Publishing Service

The University of Oregon Libraries and Oregon State University Libraries have established an Open Access Journal Publishing Service.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The University of Oregon Libraries and Oregon State University Libraries have joined forces to establish an Open Access Journal Publishing Service that will support the broader dissemination of scholarship and promote the advancement of both universities’ research. Open access journals represent an emerging academic publishing model that makes the results of scholarly research freely available online to all readers who have access to the Internet. . . .

The initiative will provide support to UO and OSU faculty members for the creation, management, distribution, and preservation of open access journals, primarily based on the Open Journal System (OJS) open source software. In addition to hosting journals on an OJS server, the initiative will assist in the migration of journal content from traditional print format to digital format. The OJS program supports the full cycle of journal publishing from article submission to archiving. . . .

Plans for creating new open access journal titles are already underway at both universities. For example, at the University of Oregon the first issue of the open access journal Humanist Studies and the Digital Age is expected to appear this winter. The journal will provide scholars and students with free and immediate online access to the results of humanities research conducted by scholars throughout the world. At Oregon State University, the Journal of the Transportation Research Forum is currently offered as an open access publication, and other titles are in the development stages. The website for the service at http://journals.oregondigital.org/ provides additional information on the new program and access to individual journals.

| Digital Scholarship |

"First Results of the SOAP Project. Open Access Publishing in 2010"

Suenje Dallmeier-Tiessen et al. have self-archived "First Results of the SOAP Project. Open Access Publishing in 2010" in arXiv.

Here's an excerpt:

The SOAP (Study of Open Access Publishing) project has compiled data on the present offer for open access publishing in online peer-­-reviewed journals. Starting from the Directory of Open Access Journals, several sources of data are considered, including inspection of journal web site and direct inquiries within the publishing industry. Several results are derived and discussed, together with their correlations: the number of open access journals and articles; their subject area; the starting date of open access journals; the size and business models of open access publishers; the licensing models; the presence of an impact factor; the uptake of hybrid open access.

Impact Factor: "Nefarious Numbers"

Douglas N. Arnold and Kristine K. Fowler have self-archived "Nefarious Numbers" in arXiv.org.

Here's an excerpt:

Despite numerous flaws, the impact factor has been widely used as a measure of quality for journals, and even for papers and authors. This has created a strong incentive to manipulate it. As we have demonstrated, it is possible to vastly increase impact factor without increasing journal quality at all. The actions of a few interested individuals can make a huge difference, yet require considerable digging to reveal. The cumulative result is that impact factor gives a very inaccurate view of journal quality. We primarily discussed one extreme example, but there is little reason to doubt that such techniques are being used to a lesser degree by many journals.

Hindawi’s Open Access Journals Get Over 2,000 Submissions per Month

Hindawi's open access journals now receive over 2,000 article submissions per month.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Hindawi is pleased to announce that its growing portfolio of open access journals have collectively received more than 2,000 monthly submissions for this first time this August, only a year and a half after having passed 1,000 monthly submissions in February 2009.

"Over the past couple of years we have seen very strong growth both from new journals that we have developed as well as from many of our more well-established journals" said Mohamed Hamdy, Hindawi's Editorial Manager. "Our five largest journals have grown to more than 700 annual submissions each, and at the same time, quite a few of the journals that we have developed within the past two years are already receiving more than 100 annual submissions."

"We are very pleased with the steady growth that we have seen in our submissions during the three and half years since we converted the last of our subscription-based journals to an open access model" said Paul Peters, Hindawi's Head of Business Development. "I believe that the success that we have seen comes from the high level of service that we provide to our authors, as well as the rigorous editorial standards of our journals. Over the past few years we have rejected about two thirds of the submissions that we receive across our journal collection, and these high standards have enabled our journals to establish strong reputations within the academic community."

Version 1, Open Access Journals Bibliography

Version one of the Open Access Journals Bibliography is now available from Digital Scholarship. Open access journals publish articles (typically peer-reviewed articles) that are free of charge and, depending on the journal, may be able to be reused under an open license (e.g., a Creative Commons license). This bibliography presents selected English-language scholarly works that are useful in understanding open access journals. It does not cover works about e-prints or works that include open access journals in a treatment of diverse types of research materials. Most sources have been published from 1999 to the present; however, a few key sources published prior to 1999 are also included. The bibliography primarily includes books and published journal articles. A limited number of magazine articles and technical reports that are deemed to be of exceptional interest are also included. The bibliography includes links to freely available versions of included works.

The following recent Digital Scholarship publications may also be of interest:

  1. Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography, version 78
  2. Digital Scholarship 2009 (paperback and open access PDF file)
  3. Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography: 2008 Annual Edition (paperback, Kindle version, and open access PDF file)
  4. Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography, version 1

"Acknowledged Goods: Cultural Studies and the Politics of Academic Journal Publishing"

Ted Striphas has self-archived "Acknowledged Goods: Cultural Studies and the Politics of Academic Journal Publishing" in IU ScholarWorks.

Here's an excerpt:

This essay explores the changing context of academic journal publishing and cultural studies' envelopment within it. It does so by exploring five major trends affecting scholarly communication today: alienation, proliferation, consolidation, pricing, and digitization. More specifically, it investigates how recent changes in the political economy of academic journal publishing have impinged on cultural studies' capacity to transmit the knowledge it produces, thereby dampening the field's political potential. It also reflects on how cultural studies' alienation from the conditions of its production has resulted in the field's growing involvement with interests that are at odds with its political proclivities.

Serials Crisis: "California against Nature"

Peter Suber has published "California against Nature" in the SPARC Open Access Newsletter.

Here's an excerpt:

* If publishers have been accelerating into a brick wall for decades, and libraries have been warning about the inevitable collision for decades, then why hasn't there been a collision before now?

There are two answers. First, many collisions have already occurred, even if they came and went without the same media attention. Universities have been canceling titles by the hundreds—and in the case of big-deal cancellations, by the thousands—for years. Even when collisions are incremental and cumulative rather than sudden and explosive, they have the same finality. And they have the same catastrophic effect on access to the portion of new research that is metered out to paying customers.

Second, when universities renewed more titles than they could realistically afford, it's not because found previously undiscovered or undisclosed pots of money. It's because they made painful cuts in order to find the money. Most of these cuts came from their book budgets, extending a serials crisis in the sciences to a monograph crisis in the humanities. The long series of small collisions is a measure of the pain universities have endured to postpone a wider and larger one.

At some point there really isn't any money left, or the money can only be found through cuts more painful than journal cancellations. After several decades of hyperinflationary price increases, followed by a severe recession, continuing business as usual will bring a critical mass of universities to that critical point. Publishers aren't just witnesses to this impending crunch. Those that continue to charge hyperinflationary price increases are accelerating it. Those that won't survive the resulting shake-out, even if their own prices had been moderate and affordable, will be co-victims with researchers and research institutions.

Springer to Offer New Open Access STM Journals

Springer will offer new open access science, technology, and medicine (STM) journals.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Springer is expanding its open access offering to all disciplines. SpringerOpen will cover all disciplines within the science, technology and medicine (STM) fields and will be offered in cooperation with BioMed Central. The entire content of SpringerOpen journals—including research articles, reviews, and editorials—are fully and immediately open access, and are accessible to anyone with an internet connection. No subscription is needed.

"We are seeing an increasing interest from our authors and from funders in all areas for open access publishing options and have responded to a need in the current market," said Wim van der Stelt, EVP Business Development, Springer. "We are happy to serve our authors and editorial boards with the publishing options they want and are also pleased to supply universities, research institutions and our other patrons with the ability to use this content online freely and conveniently."

SpringerOpen journals are e-only journals. Springer is committed to delivering high-quality articles and ensuring rapid publication as with its traditional journals, from online submission systems and in-depth peer review to an efficient, author-friendly production process. The final articles are not only published in a timely manner on Springer's online information platform SpringerLink, but are also distributed to archives such as PubMed Central and to institutional repositories as requested.

SpringerOpen journals are published under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which facilitates the open distribution of copyrighted work. According to this license, Springer will not reserve any exclusive commercial rights. The journals ask the authors to pay an article-processing charge, in accordance with market standards.

"Open Access to the Scientific Journal Literature: Situation 2009"

Bo-Christer Björk et al. have published "Open Access to the Scientific Journal Literature: Situation 2009" in PLoS ONE.

Here's an excerpt:

Methodology/Principal Findings

The proportion of peer reviewed scholarly journal articles, which are available openly in full text on the web, was studied using a random sample of 1837 titles and a web search engine. Of articles published in 2008, 8.5% were freely available at the publishers' sites. For an additional 11.9% free manuscript versions could be found using search engines, making the overall OA percentage 20.4%. Chemistry (13%) had the lowest overall share of OA, Earth Sciences (33%) the highest. In medicine, biochemistry and chemistry publishing in OA journals was more common. In all other fields author-posted manuscript copies dominated the picture.

Conclusions/Significance

The results show that OA already has a significant positive impact on the availability of the scientific journal literature and that there are big differences between scientific disciplines in the uptake. Due to the lack of awareness of OA-publishing among scientists in most fields outside physics, the results should be of general interest to all scholars. The results should also interest academic publishers, who need to take into account OA in their business strategies and copyright policies, as well as research funders, who like the NIH are starting to require OA availability of results from research projects they fund. The method and search tools developed also offer a good basis for more in-depth studies as well as longitudinal studies.

"Rebooting the CS Publication Process"

Dan S. Wallach, Associate Professor at Rice University's Department of Computer Science, has made an eprint of "Rebooting the CS Publication Process" available.

Here's an excerpt:

Many computer science academics have been grousing about failures in our publication process. This paper catalogs many of the specific complaints that are raised and proposes some radical new solutions based on the assumption that, by eliminating physical paper entirely and going with a centralized system to manage papers, we can rethink the entire process: paper submission, revision and publication. Furthermore, having all of the metadata standardized and easily available, ranking algorithms can be easily conceived to aid in tenure cases and departmental rankings.

ICOLC “Statement on the Global Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Consortial Licenses” Reissued

The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) has updated and reissued its "Statement on the Global Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Consortial Licenses."

Here's an excerpt:

The ICOLC is reissuing its Statement on the Global Economic Crisis to update information providers on the state of library and library consortia budgets in 2010. The updates below reinforce the ICOLC Statement in three substantial ways.

  1. ICOLC did not overestimate the severity of cuts to library and library consortia funding levels in its original Statement. Furthermore, we believe the worst may still be before us, as US state governments suffer the loss of stimulus funds and continued weak regional economies. All parts of the world are facing negative economic repercussions from the European debt crisis. The need for pricing restraint and options remains paramount.
  2. Fifty ICOLC member groups from around the world have participated in an anonymous survey to measure 2009 to 2010 price changes from over 30 major vendors and publishers of electronic databases and journals. This survey reveals that 38% of the price changes provided price control in the form of 1% increases or less. Seven percent (7%) of the price changes provided price reductions. We wish to commend those suppliers who have worked with libraries and consortia to contain prices. However, significant room for improvement remains. Some suppliers have done a much better job of containing prices than others. We call upon the full range of suppliers to show price restraint in 2010-2011 to enable customers to sustain as many information resource licenses as possible.
  3. We take this opportunity to highlight the added potential negative impact of exclusivity on prices, as well as access. A new Principle 3 on page 3 of this document expresses the strongly held belief of ICOLC members that, over the long-term, multiple distribution channels for licensed content provide the most affordable and suitable options for access across diverse library communities.

Nature Publishing Group Adds Open Access Options for 7 Journals

The Nature Publishing Group has added open access options for 7 more journals.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is pleased to announce open access options for seven further journals. Twenty-five journals published by NPG now offer authors an open access option, including all 15 academic journals owned by NPG.

American Journal of Gastroenterology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Gene Therapy, International Journal of Obesity, Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, Oncogene, and Leukemia have all recently introduced open access options. Authors publishing in these journals can now choose to make their article open access on payment of an article processing charge (APC). . . .

Including the American Journal of Gastroenterology and Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, seven journals published by NPG on behalf of societies offer open access options. Other journals in this portfolio with an open access are: British Journal of Cancer, The EMBO Journal, EMBO reports, European Journal of Human Genetics and Molecular Therapy. . . .

Launched in April 2010, Nature Communications is the first Nature-branded online-only journal with an open access option. In 2009, NPG introduced open access options on twelve of its academic journals.

NPG also publishes two fully open access journals: Cell Death and Disease and Molecular Systems Biology. Cell Death & Disease, launched in January 2010, is the open access sister title to Cell Death & Differentiation. Launched in 2005, Molecular Systems Biology is published in association with the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and has a 2008 Impact Factor of 12.243.

NPG's self-archiving policy ensures that authors of original research papers can comply with funder mandates for public access, regardless of which NPG journal they publish in. In addition, NPG offers a free Manuscript Deposition Service into PubMed Central and UK PubMed Central on 43 of its titles.

Directory of Open Access Journals Tops 5,000 Journal Records

The Directory of Open Access Journals now contains records for more than 5,000 journals.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Directory of Open Access Journals reaches new milestones—now 7 years of operation, now more than 5,000 journals, now more than 2,000 journals searchable on article level, very soon more than 400,000 articles searchable! . . .

Ensuring That 'E' Doesn't Mean Ephemeral: A Practical Guide to E-Journal Archiving Solutions

JISC has released Ensuring That 'E' Doesn't Mean Ephemeral: A Practical Guide to E-Journal Archiving Solutions, which discusses CLOCKSS, Portico, and the UK LOCKSS Alliance.

Here's an excerpt:

This booklet provides a starting point for institutions interested in investigating e-archiving options. It gives a practical guide to the solutions offered by three of the main long-term preservation schemes and provides an overview of the distinguishing features of each solution.

"Seeking the New Normal: Periodicals Price Survey 2010"

Kittie S. Henderson & Stephen Bosch have published "Seeking the New Normal: Periodicals Price Survey 2010" in Library Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

A number of publishers upped prices for 2010. Springer announced a five percent increase. Elsevier price increases are also in the five percent range, with the notable exception of The Lancet. The 2010 price for The Lancet jumped nine percent over 2009 levels; that increase was still smaller than in previous years. In October, the library world reeled as Nature Publishing Group (NPG) announced a 640 percent price increase (from $39.95 in 2009 to $299 in 2010) for a print subscription to Scientific American. The cost for the digital site license also rose substantially, and a number of consortia, like the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and the Oberlin Group, refused to renew. The announcement came only weeks after NPG bought the magazine.

"Open Access Publishing: A Viable Solution for Society Publishers"

Sarah Cooney-Mcquat, Stefan Busch and Deborah Kahn have published "Open Access Publishing: A Viable Solution for Society Publishers" in the latest issue of Learned Publishing. The paper is open access.

Here's an excerpt:

The open access (OA) business model has established itself as a viable alternative to traditional subscription-based publishing and is an option that societies should now realistically consider for their journals. This paper outlines how the OA model can work for societies, and presents a number of case studies that demonstrate how it is already working in practice.

portal: Libraries and the Academy Makes Copy-Edited E-Prints Available

portal: Libraries and the Academy will make copy-edited e-prints of articles in forthcoming issues available.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Johns Hopkins University Press and portal: Libraries and the Academy have announced an agreement that will provide increased access to research about the role of academic libraries and librarianship.

Beginning with the April 2010 issue, copy-edited versions of all accepted articles will be available in an open-access web environment. Six articles for the upcoming issue have already been posted online. The final, published version of the journal will still appear in Project MUSE®, a subscription-based online database of scholarly journals based at the JHU Press.

"As we move into our next decade, we want to advance past the traditional ways of presenting information and take advantage of new forms of scholarly communication," says Sarah Pritchard, the Charles Deering McCormick University Librarian at Northwestern University and editor of portal, currently in its 10th year of publication. "We appreciate the support of the Johns Hopkins University Press, which has been a good partner and good publishing venue for the journal."

The agreement, which will be re-evaluated after 18 months, allows for manuscripts to appear online after the copy-editing process is complete, but prior to the publication of the print version of the journal. The files will have a watermark to identifying its status in the publishing process.

"Copyright Provisions in Law Journal Publication Agreements"

Benjamin J. Keele has self-archived "Copyright Provisions in Law Journal Publication Agreements" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

This study examined copyright provisions of law journal publication agreements and found that a minority of journals ask authors to transfer copyright. Most journals also permit authors to self-archive articles. It recommends journals make their agreements publicly available and use licenses instead of copyright transfers.

Modelling Scholarly Communication Options: Costs and Benefits for Universities

JISC has released Modelling Scholarly Communication Options: Costs and Benefits for Universities.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement (announcement includes podcast):

The key findings from the report show

  • The annual savings in research and library costs of a university repository model combined with subscription publishing could range from £100,000 to £1,320,000
  • Moving from Open Access journals and subscription-funding to per-article Open Access journal funding has the potential to achieve savings for universities between £620,000 per year and £1,700,000 per year if the article-processing charge is set at £500 or less
  • Savings from a change away from subscription-funding to per-article Open Access journal funding were estimated to be between £170,000 and £1,365,000 per year for three out of the four universities studied when the article-processing charge is £1000 per article or less
  • For the remaining university in the study a move from subscription-funding to the per-article Open Access journal funding saw the university having to pay £1.86m more in this scenario

See also the related documents: How to Build a Case for University Policies and Practices in Support of Open Access and Publishing Research Papers Which Policy Will Deliver Best Value for Your University?.

"A Survey of the Scholarly Journals Using Open Journal Systems"

Brian D. Edgar and John Willinsky have self-archived "A Survey of the Scholarly Journals Using Open Journal Systems" on the Public Knowledge Project website.

Here's an excerpt:

A survey of 998 scholarly journals that use Open Journal Systems (OJS), an open source journal software platform, captures the characteristics of an emerging class of scholar-publisher open access journals (with some representation from more traditional scholarly society and print-based titles). The journals in the sample follow traditional norms for peer-reviewing, acceptance rates, and disciplinary focus, but are distinguished by the number that offer open access to their content, the growth rates in new titles, the participation rates from developing countries, and the extremely low operating budgets. The survey also documents the limited degree to which open source software can alter a field of communication, as OJS appears to have created a third path, dedicated to maximizing access to research and scholarship, as an alternative to traditional scholarly society and commercial publishing routes.

CMAJ to Cease Being an Open Access Journal in January 2010

CMAJ, which has been an open access journal since 1995, will cease being so in January 2010, when some content will be restricted to subscribers.

Here's an excerpt from the "No Longer Free for All":

The harsh economic reality is that CMAJ, like many others in the publishing industry, has experienced a considerable decline in advertising revenue over the past two years. This loss necessitated an extensive examination of other business models to adequately address today’s economic challenges.

"Examining Law Journal Publication Agreements for Copyright Transfers and Self-Archiving Rights"

Benjamin J. Keele has self-archived "Examining Law Journal Publication Agreements for Copyright Transfers and Self-Archiving Rights" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

This study examines 78 law journal publication agreements and finds that a minority of journals ask authors to transfer copyright. Most journals also permit author to self-archive articles with some conditions. The study recommends journals make their agreements publicly available and use licenses instead of copyright transfers.

Academic Journal Publisher Brill Launches Brill Open

Brill, an international academic publisher located in Leiden and Boston, has launched Brill Open.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

This new author service offers the option of making articles freely available upon publication. Brill Open enables authors to comply with research funding bodies and institutions which require open access.

The Brill Open option will be available for all 135 journals published under the imprints Brill, Martinus Nijhoff and VSP. Articles will be put in online open access in exchange for an article publishing fee to be arranged by the author.

Sam Bruinsma, Brill's Business Development Director, explains:"We are launching this new service in answer to a growing number of research funding bodies and universities announcing their compliance with the open access model. With Brill Open our journals are ready to meet the expected increase in contributions under this model."

In order to ensure that authors' funder requirements have no influence on the editorial peer review and decision-making, Brill Open will be made available to authors only upon acceptance of their paper for publication. Those authors who do not wish to use this service will be under no pressure to do so, and their accepted article will be published in the usual manner.

Brill's strategic intent is to adjust the future subscription price of a journal to reflect an increase in Brill Open fees. Sam Bruinsma comments: "Our view on open access developments is positive. We accept that over time an increasing part of our revenues will come through this new model. This will have an impact on the revenues from our library subscription service. The combination of these two business models will continue to support a healthy and sustainable journal program attractive to the best authors in the field."

DeepDyve Launches Rental Service for Scholarly Articles

DeepDyve has launched a rental service for scholarly articles.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

DeepDyve today unveiled the world 's largest online rental service for scientific, technical and medical research. From a growing database spanning thousands of journals, DeepDyve now gives consumers and professionals access to more than 30 million articles for as little as $0.99 per article.

"The web is transforming the publishing industry and creating opportunities for new users to access our content," said Martin Frank, Ph. D., executive director of the American Physiological Society. "The rental model that DeepDyve has pioneered enables us to serve these new users without compromising the products we offer to our traditional subscription customers." . . .

DeepDyve . . . offers an array of features and benefits to enrich the searching and reading experience, including:

  • Free search & preview: Researchers can be certain of an article's relevance before renting.
  • Personalized suggestions: DeepDyve will automatically display suggested articles based on a user 's profile.
  • Bookmarks: Favorite articles are saved and displayed on a user 's MyDeepDyve home page for easy access.
  • Email and RSS alerts: Users can receive regular updates of new articles and search results delivered directly to their email inbox or RSS reader.
  • More Like This: DeepDyve offers links to related content with every search result and article page. . . .

DeepDyve is currently offering a risk-free, 14-day trial that allows users unlimited access to thousands of authoritative journals at no cost. Users enjoy continuous access to any article until their Free Trial expires, after which they may join one of three plans:

  • Basic Rental Plan: For just $0.99 per article, users of this “pay-as-you-go” plan can rent and read a premium article from one of the many prestigious journals available through DeepDyve. Articles can be read multiple times for up to 24 hours.
  • Silver Monthly Plan: For $9.99 per month, users can rent and read up to 20 premium articles per month. Each article can be read multiple times for up to seven days.
  • Gold Monthly Plan: For $19.99 per month, users can rent and read an unlimited number of articles for an unlimited amount of time. There is no expiration date.