Open Science

Your guide to Open Access publishing and Open Science

Tag: access
Views, Saltire Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, UK, February 5, 2006 | © Courtesy of Jisc infoNet.

The Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of Open Access Transitions on Library Budgets in Britain and Germany

As recent media reports indicate, a significant impact of Open Access transitions on university and library costs related to scientific journal subscriptions can primarily be expected in the long term, if no concerted measures by academic institutions are undertaken. By contrast, short-term subscription cost reductions are likely to demand contract renegotiations. In both cases, Open Access is an integral part of changing the model based on which the journal publishing market operates. A Blog Article by Pablo Markin. In a news brief from December 5, 2017, The Times Higher Education has recently recapitulated the key findings of a recent report […]

Forschungs-Schiff Sonne, November 21, 2014 | © Courtesy of Gerhard Kemme.

Amid Knowledge Access Concerns, the Switch of German Universities and Institutes to Open Access Can Bring Visibility

Though concerted university-level transitions to Open Access can raise competitiveness concerns, such as in Germany, ranking systems and downloading statistics indicate that Open Access can raise the international visibility of academic institutions. A Blog Article by Pablo Markin. While the negotiations between German universities and Elsevier, as one of the largest publishers, over journal subscription charges appear to be stalled, according to David Matthews’ communication with Dr. Martin Köhler, a lawyer involved in these negotiations, for the Times Higher Education, interlibrary article loans, rather than illegal downloading, e.g., from Sci-Hub, can represent a viable alternative to prolongating the existing contracts […]

The Leeds Library, Leeds, Yorkshire, England, UK, on February 3, 2015 | © Courtesy of Michael D Beckwith.

Subscription-Based Journals May Be Facing the Music Industry Predicament due to File-Sharing Platforms

As large publishers fight via legal means illegal scientific article downloading, such as via Sci-Hub, empirical findings show that over 85% of paywall-protected article catalogues are accessible through no-fee, controversial repositories. A Blog Article by Pablo Markin. While legislative initiatives seek to strike a balance between the interests of academic journal publishing industry and those of scientific communities, such as by setting quotas for Open Access to publicly supported research publications, as has recently been proposed in Germany, they can be perceived as falling short of researcher needs that continue to be largely covered by scholarly journal subscriptions that university […]