David among Goliaths: Open access publishing in scientific (semi-)periphery

This case study analyses data on papers of Croatian authors published in 2017 from four Web of Science Core Collection citation indexes (SCIEXP, SSCI, AHCI, and ESCI). The primary dataset (5, 176 articles and reviews) was divided into two subsets, the open access (OA) subset (2, 964 papers) and non-OA subset (2, 212 papers). We also used the primary dataset to create a subset of papers published in Croatian journals (1, 588) as opposed to foreign ones. All were screened for full-text OA status, journal JCR quartile ranking, journal dominant discipline, and language of publication. OA papers prevailed with 74.4%. Most were available at publisher websites. The percentage of OA papers in Croatian journals was 99.8%. The share of OA papers was the highest in the humanities and social sciences, which also saw the highest share of papers in the Croatian language

Jumping over the paywall: Strategies and motivations for scholarly piracy and other alternatives

Despite the advance of the Open Access (OA) movement, most scholarly production can only be accessed through a paywall. We conduct an international survey among researchers (N=3,304) to measure the willingness and motivations to use (or not use) scholarly piracy sites, and other alternatives to overcome a paywall such as paying with their own money, institutional loans, just reading the abstract, asking the corresponding author for a copy of the document, asking a colleague to get the document for them, or searching for an OA version of the paper. We also explore differences in terms of age, professional position, country income level, discipline, and commitment to OA. The results show that researchers most frequently look for OA versions of the documents. However, more than 50% of the participants have used a scholarly piracy site at least once. This is less common in high-income countries, and among older and better-established scholars. Regarding disciplines, such services were less used in Life & Health Sciences and Social Sciences. Those who have never used a pirate library highlighted ethical and legal objections or pointed out that they were not aware of the existence of such libraries

Open access in translation studies. A bibliometric overview of its distribution and development

This article provides an analysis of open access (OA) publishing in translation studies for the 1961-2015 period. To this end, we have taken advantage of the translation studies (TS) bibliographical database BITRA, which comprised over 75,000 entries as of December 2018, over 21,000 of which had been labelled as OA. The main bibliometric factors we have examined from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives are the global status of OA, publication format, language, topic, kind of publisher and types of websites hosting OA publications, also providing an estimation of how these factors predict OA. The results indicate that open and toll access currently tend to reach a balance due to the dramatic growth experienced by OA in TS. We have also found that OA is still on the increase in TS, although with some notable variations within each of the factors under analysis

Scientific potential of European fully open access journals

The scientific potential of European countries measured by their participation in publication of all peer-review journals as well as open access journals (OAJs) is significant. In this paper we focus on European fully open access journals (OAJs) as a potentially optimal channel of communication in science. We explore fully OAJs (n=1201) indexed by Scopus with several bibliometric indicators: quartile rankings, SJR (SCImago Journal Ranking) and h-index. As countries in our focus have entered EU at different times and have diverse backgrounds, we divide them into three groups: A (members before 1995), B (became members in 2004-2013 period) and C (EU candidate countries). Analysis across country groups is complemented with analysis across major subject fields. Quartile rankings indicate that journals in Q1 dominate in group A, followed by journals in Q2. In the remaining two country groups, journals belonging to Q3 have more than 50% of the share. Analysis by different scientific fields stresses that life and health sciences have the highest shares of OAJs in Q1. In physical sciences the highest share of OAJs is in Q3 while combined shares of Q2 and Q3 are above 50%. Only 10% of all European OAJs in social sciences is in Q1. Furthermore, we find the least difference between journals in group A and groups B and C in social sciences, both in respect to coverage and quality indicators. In all scientific fields median SJR indicators is, in the case of groups B and C, higher for OAJs than non-OAJs as opposed to group A

Jumping over the paywall: strategies and motivations for scholarly piracy and other alternatives

Despite the advance of the Open Access (OA) movement, most scholarly production can only be accessed through a paywall. We conduct an international survey among researchers (N=3,304) to measure the willingness and motivations to use (or not use) scholarly piracy sites, and other alternatives to overcome a paywall such as paying with their own money, institutional loans, just reading the abstract, asking the corresponding author for a copy of the document, asking a colleague to get the document for them, or searching for an OA version of the paper. We also explore differences in terms of age, professional position, country income level, discipline, and commitment to OA. The results show that researchers most frequently look for OA versions of the documents. However, more than 50% of the participants have used a scholarly piracy site at least once. This is less common in high-income countries, and among older and better-established scholars. Regarding disciplines, such services were less used in Life & Health Sciences and Social Sciences. Those who have never used a pirate library highlighted ethical and legal objections or pointed out that they were not aware of the existence of such libraries

Periódicos científicos em acesso aberto: uma análise do povoamento do Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências da Educação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação, Florianópolis, 2019.A publicação em periódicos científicos é a socialização dos resultados de pesquisa que, com o movimento do acesso aberto, oportunizou o acesso à informação científica por meio da Internet sem ônus ao leitor. Nesse sentido, este estudo objetivou analisar as características dos títulos que constituem o Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) como um diretório mundial que disponibiliza periódicos científicos em acesso aberto. O estudo foi do tipo descritivo, transversal e documental com abordagem quantitativa. A população foi de 9.005 periódicos do DOAJ, coletados em julho 2017, que se subdividiram em No Seal e Seal. Os resultados mostram que existem 8,88% de títulos DOAJ indexados na Scopus e 7,32% na Web of Science. Além disso, existe relação estatística significativa do título ser DOAJ Seal e ser indexado na Web of Science e/ou na Scopus, ter presença no Scientific Journal Rankings e no Journal Citation Reports e cobrar Article Processing Charge (APC). Os títulos DOAJ possuem maior presença no Cited Reference. Os cinco países com maior quantitativo de títulos em acesso aberto foram: Brasil (10,9%), Reino Unido (9,7%), Indonésia (7,7%), Egito (6,1%) e Espanha (5,9%). As cinco editoras com maior quantidade de títulos foram: Hindawi Publishing Corporation (5,8%), Elsevier (3,6%), De Gruyter Open (3,5%), BioMed Central (3,2%) e Springer (2,0%). Ademais, 52,7% dos títulos são de editoras que possuem de 1 a 5 periódicos cada. As editoras que possuem maior média de APC, em ordem decrescente, foram: Nature Publishing, média de 2.122 dólares; Wiley, média de 2.078 dólares; Frontiers Media, média de 1.996 dólares; Dove Medical Press, média de 1.879 dólares; e Sara and George (SAGE) Publishing, média de 1.514 dólares. As editoras de \"Faculdades, Academias, Universidades\" tiveram menores médias na cobrança de APC (224 dólares para títulos DOAJ No Seal e 364 dólares para DOAJ Seal) ou não cobram APC, enquanto as editoras de \"Sociedades e Institutos\" possuem relação estatística significativa para maiores valores de APC para os DOAJ Seal (média de 1.143 dólares). Entre os países do estudo, o Reino Unido (média de US$1.474 DOAJ No Seal), a Suíça (média de US$ 1.446DOAJ No Seal) e Holanda (média de US$1.362 DOAJ No Seal) possuem relação estatística significativa em cobrarem maiores valores de APC para os periódicos DOAJ No Seal enquanto Canadá (média de US$1.860 DOAJ Seal) e Itália (média de US$629 DOAJ Seal), possuem relação estatística significativa em cobrarem maiores valores para os DOAJ Seal. Por fim, considera-se que os periódicos em acesso aberto indexados pelo DOAJ oportunizam o acesso aos leitores de títulos com e sem cobrança de APC de diversos países e editoras oportunizando tanto pequenas quanto grandes editoras de países dos continentes da América, África, Ásia, Europa e Oceania a participarem do mercado de publicação científica. Contudo, pelo viés da concentração de títulos, tem-se o prisma da hegemonia e do oligopólio de editoras comerciais, como a Springer e a Elsevier, com cobrança de APC. O acesso aberto via platina oportuniza a inserção de autores e leitores independentemente de suas condições financeiras, ou seja, oportuniza a informação científica para quem a produz e utiliza.Abstract : Publishing studies on scientific journals aims to socialize research results, and the movement of open access to this information through the internet, providing open access to users. In this regard, the objective of this study is to analyze the characteristics of the titles that constitute the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) as a worldwide directory that offers open access to scientific journals. The research was descriptive, transversal and documentary with a quantitative approach. The population was 9,005 periodicals of DOAJ, collected in July 2017 and were subdivided into No Seal and Seal. The results show that there are 8.88$ 1,860 DOAJ Seal) and Italy (average of US $ 629 DOAJ Seal) have a significant statistical relationship in charging higher DOAJ Seal values. In conclusion, it is considered that the open access to scientific journals indexed by the DOAJ allow access by balancing the interests of readers, authors and publishers, since the directory has a diversity of countries and publishers that offer titles with and without APC charge. Nonetheless, regarding concentration of titles, there is a hegemony and oligopoly of commercial publishers, such as Springer and Elsevier, which demand an APC charge. Open access via platinum allows the inclusion of authors and readers, regardless of their financial conditions, consequently, reflecting on open access is to provide scientific information to those who produce and use it

Reassembling Scholarly Communications: Histories, Infrastructures, and Global Politics of Open Access

The Open Access Movement proposes to remove price and permission barriers for accessing peer-reviewed research work—to use the power of the internet to duplicate material at an infinitesimal cost-per-copy. In this volume, contributors show that open access does not exist in a technological or policy vacuum; there are complex social, political, cultural, philosophical, and economic implications for opening research through digital technologies. The contributors examine open access from the perspectives of colonial legacies, knowledge frameworks, publics and politics, archives and digital preservation, infrastructures and platforms, and global communities. he contributors consider such topics as the perpetuation of colonial-era inequalities in research production and promulgation; the historical evolution of peer review; the problematic histories and discriminatory politics that shape our choices of what materials to preserve; the idea of scholarship as data; and resistance to the commercialization of platforms. Case studies report on such initiatives as the Making and Knowing Project, which created an openly accessible critical digital edition of a sixteenth-century French manuscript, the role of formats in Bruno Latour's An Inquiry into Modes of Existence, and the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), a network of more than 1,200 journals from sixteen countries. Taken together, the contributions represent a substantive critical engagement with the politics, practices, infrastructures, and imaginaries of open access, suggesting alternative trajectories, values, and possible futures