The transition towards open access publishing in humanities: A case study of researchers’ publishing patterns, views on and experiences of OA publishing at a Finnish university

    Forskningsoutput: Typer av avhandlingarMagisteruppsatsAvhandlingar

    86 Nedladdningar (Pure)

    Sammanfattning

    During the past decades, the forms of formal scholarly communication and publishing have undergone profound changes; from publishing in print format to digital format, and from publishing in closed access channels to publishing online as open access (OA). The question of OA to research outputs is a current issue for research funders, universities, and researchers.

    The aim of this study is to examine the transition towards OA publishing in humanities. Previous studies suggest that the development towards increased OA has been slow in the humanities in particular. To understand the transition towards increased OA publishing, it is central to consider both the researchers’ perspective and the characteristics of the humanities. In this study, the humanities at Åbo Akademi University (ÅAU) serve as a case study to examine researchers’ publishing patterns, and their views on and experiences of OA publishing.

    Two separate methods of data collection were applied in the study. To map the publishing patterns in humanities in relation to other fields of science, publication data of peer reviewed publications in humanities (N=192) and all fields of science together (N=1 016) produced in 2018 at ÅAU was retrieved from the national publication database Virta. To map researchers’ views on and experiences of OA publishing, an online survey was conducted among researchers (N=59) affiliated to the Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology (FHPT) at ÅAU.

    The analysis of publication data shows that the patterns of scholarly publishing in humanities at ÅAU are typical to the humanities in general: the proportions of publications as book sections, monographs and edited works are larger than in other fields of science. In comparison with other fields of science, the current state of OA publishing in humanities can be considered at a decent level at ÅAU. In the survey, FHPT researchers reported a good level of awareness and knowledge of OA issues, and positive perceptions of OA overall. However, the OA attributes of publications were not the most important factors in researchers’ choices of publication channel. The perceived quality and prestige of OA journals, funding for article processing charges, and green OA as a viable form of OA publishing emerge as critical to the development towards increased OA in the future, also in the organizational and national setting of the present study.
    OriginalspråkEngelska
    Handledare
    • Widén, Gunilla, Handledare
    • Neuman, Yrsa, Handledare
    StatusPublicerad - 23 sep. 2020
    MoE-publikationstypG2 Masteruppsats, polyteknisk masteruppsats

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