NEWS AND ANALYSIS


OA MONOGRAPHS POSE CHALLENGES FOR RESEARCHERS AND LIBRARIANS


Caren Milloy reports on the Open Access Monographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences conference in July


O


pen access (OA) offers an exciting opportunity


to make research


available more widely. But, as delegates heard at early July’s Open Access Monographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences conference at the British Library, it also brings the need for fundamental new approaches from researchers, libraries and publishers. Sales of monographs have declined from an average of 2,000 copies in 1980, to just 200 in the early years of this century, according to research by John Willinsky published in 2009 in the Journal of Electronic Publishing. As a consequence, the prices of monographs have risen – often to more than £100 per title. For researchers, for whom monographs remain one of the main ways to communicate their research, there is a fear, as articulated by Rupert Gatti, director of Open Book Publishers, that the low levels of dissemination and high price barriers are doing a real social harm. While recognising that costs will at least have to be covered, discussion at this month’s monographs conference focused largely on the importance of the dialogue, the research at the heart of the monograph and the ways that digital publishing, combined with OA, offers the opportunity to extend the reach of the conversation and move beyond the confines of the traditional printed work. Kim Hackett highlighted how OA can offer greater efficiency during the research process, better and wider public understanding of the research work and enhanced sustainability. Hackett is research education framework (REF) higher education policy advisor at the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). HEFCE is so convinced of these benefits that its policy is to encourage publishing in an OA form, and it is building this requirement for journals into the REF after 2014.


When it comes to monographs however, the recent HEFCE consultation showed that further evidence and partnership working is required before decisions can be made as to the inclusion of OA monographs in the REF.


www.researchinformation.info @researchinfo


Researchers also have some serious questions about OA and what this means to them as monograph authors. They worry about how their own work will fare in an OA environment – how will the integrity of their work be protected? What about translations? How can they ensure they receive credit for their work and their collaborations? How can they secure rigorous peer review for their research?


And they wonder, too, how they will fare themselves, working in an OA world. How can they move to an OA model when few of the traditional big publishers offer such an option, and how will this impact on career progression? This a particular concern for early-career academics who need their first book to establish their reputation. They might wonder if career panels will see an OA


Researchers worry about how their own work will fare in an OA environment – integrity, credit for their work, peer review


monograph as the equivalent of a traditionally published one. Another concern is how they will be able to assess the credentials of the potential collaborators they meet online, and how can they be sure of the credibility of the material they access.


These issues have special resonance in humanities and social sciences (HSS) subjects, which have to fight hard for a share of the funding pot, and need to provide clear evidence of their reach and engagement in order to secure it. Taking those first steps, having the confidence to publish an OA monograph with a newborn OA publisher or to utilise open peer review are not easy for many. Yet is this move such a large one? Jean- Claude Guedon of the University of Montreal, Canada, in his opening keynote, said that the notion of the single author


is fixed to the print and that, in reality, authors of research material don’t work in isolation. They discuss ideas, use colleagues as sounding boards, invite comments – the very act of writing is social. He pointed out that OA is simply enabling researchers to extend conversations across continents and disciplines more readily than ever before. University librarians are also facing challenges of their own. Will OA monographs change the focus for libraries from acquiring and curating a careful collection of books (and e-books) to connecting people to OA books? Will libraries need to focus more on services that aid discovery, support evaluation of the quality and relevance of OA monographs, and provide advice and guidance to authors to help manage their publishing


responsibilities and contracts?


While we are in a period of transition, how will OA monographs integrate with existing book acquisition processes and the big e-book aggregator platforms?


Jill Russell, digital assets programme manager at the University of Birmingham, UK, told the meeting that a key concern for librarians is the long-term reliability of publishing platforms. Where resources are made openly available online by publishers, how can librarians be sure that the resource – and its platform – will remain available? With no contracts to hold publishers to, libraries could find themselves powerless if plugs are pulled for economic or other reasons. She also highlighted questions that haven’t been discussed yet, such as how university repositories should deal with co- authored editions or a book edited by one of their researchers, and what format and version should be held within the repository. OA has the potential to support the flow of conversation, open up the discourse and increase communities of practice. The question is: how we do this and how do we embrace technology to go beyond the monograph?


Caren Milloy is head of projects at Jisc Collections


AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013 Research Information 5


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