Open Access Electronic Publications: a Boost for Academic Libraries

Open Access Electronic Publications: A Boost for Academic Libraries K. John Paul Anbu Introduction The current trend in academic publishing is to publish in both print and electronic media. Statistics show that almost 75 per cent of journals are now published simultaneously in print and electronic media . Tenopir (2004) observes that over 11,000 journals are now published only online. With these print and electronic journals, library users believe they are living in an era of great access to scholarly literature. Access to online databases, electronic resources, online inter-library transactions and digitised abstracting and indexing services have revolutionised information dissemination. However, there seems to be a growing dissatisfaction with the current scheme of access to scholarly publications, especially among librarians, administrators and scientists. Over the years, the cost of journals has increased tremendously against shrinking library budgets. The cry of takeovers, mergers, diminishing profit margin and increase in the subscription costs has prompted publishers to offer bundled journal packages. The cost of bundled serials, though attractive and comprehensive on the surface, always has a rider in the form of multiple year commitments and additional costs. For example, Owens (2003) says an institutional subscription to a bundle of seven titles including Brain Research is charged at US$ 20,000 a year, which is neither cheap nor helpful in lowering the costs. Statistics show that for the 17-year period ended in 2002, journal prices rose by 227 per cent, whereas the Consumer Price Index rose by only 64 per cent. Prosser (2003) observes that with the current pricing model and the amount of scholarly publications published ‘even the wealthiest institutions cannot purchase access to all the information that their researchers require’. Shortcomings of the Existing Scholarly Publishing Model Traditionally, scholarly publishers and academic libraries play complimentary roles in disseminating scholarly information and preserving it for research. The current profit-oriented scholarly publishing model and the evolution of scientific publishing, especially the ‘core journals’, ‘core publishers’ and ‘prestigious journals’ have divided the academic world into the haves and the have-nots. This model has lent its heart to commercial interests in that only wealthier institutions who can afford to pay hefty sums of money to procure these highly priced journals are in a position to serve their researchers. The pricing models of these ‘core journals’ raises the question of who determines these core journals. Further examination shows that the same people also contribute in these so-called prestigious journals! There is no doubt that the commercial publishers and a fraction of scientists have built a covert alliance, and the result is an elitist system. Unfortunately, these prestigious journals, which they control, appear integral to the very structure of academic professional advancement. The fundamental principle of research is that wide dissemination of research results is vital for validating these results and thereby advancing the field of knowledge. But the current publishing scenario has resulted in subduing the visibility of others whose scholarly work is either inaccessible because of high journal prices or is not listed in the ‘core journal’ category. One can conclude, therefore, that the current publishing model has failed to provide comprehensive and uniform visibility for research. The current scholarly publishing model was quick to embrace ICT, especially the Internet, but failed to provide broader access to research. With the evolution of digital publishing and networked distribution technologies, one would assume that the print production and distribution costs would be minimised. With more and more digital citations and online references, the shape of the scholarly articles itself has changed. In spite of that, the publishers could neither de-link their existing print publishing model for profit’s sake nor whole-heartedly support the digital publishing model separately. This has resulted in the dual publishing model, that is, ‘print and digital’ publishing. The publishers provide access to both print and online versions of journals, unfortunately with additional costs. While the scholarly publishing model was travelling on two horses, some libraries were quick to abandon their print subscription, giving way to digital collections. But the current scholarly publishing model has not been able to provide the long-term commitment to digital preservation and archiving. Most of the academic libraries that depend on their archives for research, could not whole-heartedly support the online version of journals only because of the digital archiving uncertainties. All these ambiguities and shortcomings resulted in the search for reliable alternative model of scholarly publishing. 2 Transition from the existing publishing model The divide and frustration in the current scholarly publishing scenario prompted the search for alternative publishing models. These models started to mushroom everywhere and seemed to have gathered momentum. Tenopir and King (2001) argue that ‘High journal prices, continued perceptions of inadequacies in the current journal system and fascination with new technologies have spurred a rash of innovative ideas for enhancing or replacing traditional journals. New ways to disseminate information and make the results of research available at no cost to the research community seems to be viable, thanks mainly to these new ideas. Two important developments, namely, the ‘Open Access Journal Model’ and the ‘Institutional Repository Model’ of scholarly publications seem to be opening doors for scholarly publishing. These new publishing models are not envisaged to replace the current publishing model, but to (i) provide a complimentary role by reforming the ambiguities of the current scholarly communication; (ii) re-assert control over scholarship by the academia; (iii) increase the visibility of researchers; (iv) provide uniform visibility of research; and, above all (v) decrease monopoly by certain core group of publishers and scholars. The subsequent momentum with which these new models are accepted in the academia shows that these new initiatives are here to stay. Background to Open Access Initiatives The Budapest Open Access Initiative of December 2001 triggered a series of attempts to make research findings freely available on the internet. Important among these attempts is the creation of working models of open access journals and institutional repositories. The Open Access Initiatives ‘make research articles in all academic fields freely available on the internet.’ 1 It was envisaged that by creating open and free access journals, both the researchers and scientists would benefit enormously. By successfully creating working models of free and open access journals covering all disciplines, it will prove that this will be a palpable solution to the existing shortcomings of the current publishing monopoly. Apart from scholarly journals, if the research findings are published in the institutions’ repository servers, the results of research can be served free to the research community. The binding vine between these two models is the ‘Open Access Initiative’. 3 Open Access Journals Journal articles play a major role in validating research results and updating current research activities of similar nature. Unfortunately, the current system of scientific publishing does not allow global visibility and access to important research results and research projects. Most of the journals are priced beyond the reach of the research community both in the cost of publishing and reading . Open access journals are defined as: electronic journals that use a funding model that does not charge its readers or the institutions for its access. The journal should offer open access to their content without delay. Quality control for an open access journal should be exercised by submitted papers through an editor, editorial board and/or a peer- review system as similar to that of the existing paper published journal system.2 The main aim of the open access journal model is to create a parallel publishing model which is free and open and, at the same time, reliable and qualitative in nature. Open access journals aim to break this impasse and provide a robust reception and access to scholarly publications. Open access journals are a promising alternative to commercially published journals. Institutional Repositories Most of the research activities in an institution are carried through and funded by the research programmes and grants of that institution. Institutional repositories aim to provide online the outcome of these research activities, in scholarly publications in their institution’s server to enhance wider access to their publications. With its library as the focal point, institutional repositories are expected to bring online all the research activities of the institution for open access and with further collaboration with other such repositories to provide broader access to research. Institutional repositories are envisaged to ‘centralize, preserve and make accessible an institution’s intellectual capital and at the same time they will ideally form part of a global system of distributed, interoperable repositories that provide the foundation for a new disaggregated model of scholarly publishing’ (Crow 2002:7). Above all,

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