Open Access

do into Roman history research, only fuels this argument further. Another important distinction is that

journal prices tend to be higher in STM fields than in the humanities and social sciences. From a library or university viewpoint, this is a compelling reason to consider OA publishing. In contrast, the more-affordable humanities journals give less urgency to trim costs by turning to OA options.

A breed apart

But it’s not all about cash; the way in which these academics carry out research is very different too. Bloomsbury, publisher of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books, is well aware of this fact. In September 2008, the UK business boldly launched a new academic and monograph imprint, Bloomsbury Academic, selling humanity books under an OA model. But why books? Bloomsbury Academic

is exploiting a fact that other organisations and institutions have realised, but not acted on; humanities researchers value books over journals. As the company’s publishing director Frances Pinter explained: ‘For STM researchers, the main conduit for research dissemination is the academic journal. For the humanities and social sciences it’s more of a mixed model. These fields are more reliant on the long-form publication of books, because it isn’t always possible to represent a set of ideas, theories and themes, and write about them in article form – people just need more space.’ Gary Hall, from the School of Art and

Design at UK-based Coventry University, agrees. Hall is co-editor of Culture Machine, an OA journal of culture and theory, founded in 1999. He is also co-founder of the Open Humanities Press (OHP), an OA publishing initiative in the humanities that recently launched an OA book series. ‘The publication of (humanities research findings) is less time sensitive. You haven’t cured an important disease for which people need to know the results quickly,’ he pointed out. ‘The extended argument is more valued in the humanities – if you want to get the humanities on board you can’t just concentrate on journals publishing, you have to have books as that’s what’s important to these researchers.’

www.researchinformation.info

electronic and print on-demand publication, metadata creation and cataloguing as well as archiving in the University of Michigan library. E-books are available from the OHP and SPO websites whereas paperback versions can be bought from online distributors. Authors retain copyrights for their works

and have a choice of Creative Commons licences. They can also choose to publish their manuscripts online in various pre- and post-publication versions for reader comment and annotation. ‘Our mission is to help academics make

Frances Pinter: ‘It isn’t always possible to

represent a set of ideas, theories and themes in

article form – people just need more space’

The case in point came in May 2008,

when Hall and colleagues launched the OHP. Described by the Public Library of Science as a ‘beacon of hope’ in a sector where OA remained relatively untouched, the initiative was well received. But, still, the users wanted more. ‘As soon as we launched the Open Humanities Press we got lots of people writing to us from the arts and humanities saying it’s great to see journals, but what we really need is books,’ said Hall. The organisation has since joined forces

with the US University of Michigan Library’s Scholarly Publishing Office (SPO) and this year will publish five books as part of its OA book series in critical and cultural

theory. One series ‘Culture Machine Liquid

Books’, is a collection of experimental digital ‘books’ published under the conditions of both open editing and free content. So how will OHP’s model of OA book publishing work? After vetting and peer review, manuscripts are passed onto the SPO and converted to structured XML for

their work available online and help them publish it. We keep a high standard of professional publication, we maintain the editorial quality with our international editorial board, so we cut costs this way,’ explained Hall. ‘Print-on-demand will also subsidise making titles available as OA. It’s working.’ Hall is also certain that placing content

online for free doesn’t detract from hard copy sales, but actually stimulates demand. ‘[Businesses] that have published books online [for free] are finding that there is very little damage to sales, in fact a lot of the time, sales increase,’ he asserted. ‘People find the book, dip into it, but very few will read an entire book online, or even print it. If you like the book and want to read all of it, you will buy it.’

Financial balance

Like the OHP, Bloomsbury Academic originally advocated the OA publishing of books, with financial support from the sale of hard copies using print-on-demand technology. However, since its initial announcement the publisher has added another money-making element to its business model. ‘In the last year the e-book world has

begun to take off, especially in academia,’ observed Bloomsbury Academic’s Frances Pinter. ‘So we’ve decided to sell an enhanced e-book as well as the print book, while still putting the content online, under a Creative Commons licence.’ According to Pinter, the free, online,

HTML version will comprise text with footnotes at the end, while the e-book will have enhanced functionality, possibly more content as well as a layout and index like a conventional book. ‘Yes, our original model

Research Information April/May 2010 13 Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36