Learned society attitudes towards open access

Learned societies are “a critical part of the research environment ”, and many rely largely on subscription income from their journals publishing programme to support the other services they offer to their members in the promotion of their academic dis c ipline. As a result, they are facing enormous challenges as the journals publishing landscape becomes more complex and established revenues are threatened. Following the publication of the UK Finch Group’s report on expanding access to research publications, there is genuine concern that learned societies could potentially stand to lose out significantly if Open Access is widely adopted. They are understandably worried about the future sustainability of their organizations and the knock - on effect on the subject research communit ies they support and serve. Questions are being asked about how societies, especially those that are small with limited resources, can remain viable in an Open Access world? How should publishing partners be help ing to support societies with their journal publishing programme s to allow them to continue their mission on behalf of their members? With these issues in mind TBI Communications, on behalf of EDP Sciences, undertook a programme of research to help understand more fully the attitudes of professional and learned societies towards Open Access (OA), their evolving needs ; and how a publishing partner can effectively support them in an OA environment. There were two steps to the research, 1) an online survey to professional and learned societies and to supplement these findings, 2) a focus group to a wider range of representatives from the academic publishing industry. The survey was answered by 33 learned societies and the results were further supplemented by a focus group held at the annual UKSG meeting in Harrogate in April. Key findings include: Learned societies overwhelmingly agree that Open Access will inevitably place some learned societies’ journals into financial jeopardy. Competing with large Open Access specialist publishers was also considered a significant challenge for learned societies. Gold Open Access is the Open Access method that is least offered by learned society journals, however nearly two-thirds of learned societies indicated that they would like to be offering this option. More than ever before, with so many journals being published Open Access of dubious origin, learned societies should look to endorse content with a stamp of quality and authority. Collaboration between learned societies could help in the transition to Open Access, by pooling resources and sharing complex tasks. Two-thirds of all learned societies are also looking for support on best approach to OA, and compliance with funder mandates

The Transition to...Open Access

This report describes and draws conclusions from the transition of the Association for Learning Technology’s journal Research in Learning Technology from toll-access to Open Access, and from being published by one of the "big five" commercial publishers to being published by a specialist Open Access publisher. The focus of the report is on what happened in the run-up to and after the transition, rather than on the process of deciding to switch between publishing models, which is covered in in ALT's 2011 report "Journal tendering for societies: a brief guide" - http://repository.alt.ac.uk/887/

Music Aggregators and Intermediation of the Digital Music Market

This article demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, the advent of the Internet has not made intermediaries in the music market obsolete. Individual artists and independent record labels who want to sell their music in digital music stores must deliver their records via third-party companies called music aggregators. Drawing on the concepts of new institutional economics, the article demonstrates that the emergence of music aggregators is a market response to the high level of transaction costs and bargaining asymmetry associated with selling digital music online. The conclusion suggests that the major music conglomerates may seek ownership links with music aggregators, leading to the emergence of vertically integrated companies, which may have profound consequences for cultural markets

Canadian Child Welfare: System Design Dimensions and Possibilities for Innovation

Ontario child welfare is entering territory where other countries have gone before. A decade earlier, jurisdictions in England, the United States and Australia implemented similar reforms and, not coincidentally, encountered comparable difficulties, creating high levels of dissatisfaction among service users and service providers. Our contention is that such frustrations are inherent consequences of the underpinnings of the “Anglo-American child protection paradigm”. To do better, it is helpful to look for ideas outside of what is familiar and to consider how useful approaches from other jurisdictions might be adapted to a Canadian context. There are two primary focuses for this paper: (1) to extrapolate lessons for reform from the experiences of families and service providers in Ontario’s Children’s Aid Societies; and, (2) to identify opportunities for positive innovations in Canadian child welfare systems drawing upon selected international jurisdictions

Aspiring workers or striving consumers? Rethinking social exclusion in the era of consumer capitalism

https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2017.138583

Visions in monochrome: Families, marriage and the individualisation thesis

This paper takes issue with the way in which the individualisation thesis – in which it is assumed that close relationships have become tenuous and fragile - has become so dominant in ‘new’ sociological theorising about family life. Although others have criticised this thesis, in this paper the main criticism derives from empirical research findings carried out with members of transnational families living in Britain whose values and practices do not fit easily with ideas of individualisation. It is argued that we need a much more complex and less linear notion of how families change across generations and in time

Digital publication - the available options

Paper given at Record Society Publishin

Guide to open access monograph publishing for arts, humanities and social science researchers

This guide has been produced to assist arts, humanities and social sciences researchers in understanding the state of play with regards to open access in the UK and what it means to them as current and future authors of scholarly monographs

How can I encourage multi-stakeholder narrative and reflection on the use of ICT in Teacher Professional Development programmes in Rwanda?

This is an action research enquiry into how I can improve my practice to encourage multi-stakeholder narrative and reflection on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programmes in Rwanda. I examine the complexity of the ICT-TPD landscape in the Africa Region. I describe two action research cycles in which I attempt to encourage reflection on ICT in professional development in Rwanda. In each cycle I explore the potential of an Activity Theory lens for probing the issues and examining the perspectives of the stakeholder community of teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers and researchers affiliated to national ICT in TPD programmes and initiatives. I integrate a “Most Significant Change” narrative technique to engage participants in telling stories of significant change in their practice with technology integration. Through the rigour of the action research living theory approach I come to a number of conclusions about my own values and how I actually live my values in practice as I engage with partners in discourse and reflection for mutual learning on the issues of ICT integration in Teacher Professional Development

Quality-testing the legal Internet: finding law with the SOSIG Law Gateway

English language version of a preprint of an article by Steven Whittle, Information Systems Manager at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, published in Recht Bibliothek Dokumentation, the journal of the AjBD Arbeitsgemeinschaft für juristisches Bibliotheks-und Dokumentationswese