[Open-access] Hearing more about humanities research and open access

[Peter Murray-Rust]

On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 11:31 AM, Dan Scott <
dan.scott at socialsciencesdirectory.com> wrote:

> Dear Peter****
>
> ** **
>
> In answer to your question, I worked in subscription publishing and became
> so infuriated with its iniquities that I set out to provide an alternative,
> as outlined below.****
>
> **
>
Thanks,
I am very pleased to find new initiatives that don't rely on subscription
paywalls.


> **
>
> On September 24th, the first issue of Social Sciences Directory<http://socialsciencesdirectory.com/index.php/socscidir/index>was published and it will be followed shortly by Humanities
> Directory<http://humanitiesdirectory.com/index.php/humanitiesdirectory/index>.
> These are new multi-disciplinary publications, which aim to revolutionise
> scholarly publishing by providing quality, affordable content without the
> barrier of subscription paywalls. Our approach is modern and progressive,
> whilst adhering to recognised publishing standards. I am writing to ask if
> you will help us to disseminate information by passing on details to your
> members, and by doing so benefiting the faculty, researchers, students and
> librarians of your membership’s institutions by increasing the reach and
> speed of their research output. We would also be delighted to talk to your
> association or society directly about possible publishing partnerships.
>

Although I think this para is aimed at universities I have copied this to
the OKF open-access list. This is a few months old and hopefully some
readers will find points they wish to explore. As with most OKF things we
are effectively a  community/meritocracy so that things happen, often
quickly, but not always predictably.

> ****
>
> ** **
>
> We aim to****
>
> **·         **capture the best of international research across the
> disciplines of social sciences and arts & humanities****
>
> **·         **conduct peer-review and publish papers in online formats****
>
> **·         **facilitate discussion and information sharing through
> discussion platforms****
>
> **·         **augment research content with valuable additional reading
> materials such as dissertations, reviews, presentations and reports****
>
> ** **
>
> Our first issue contains papers on ****
>
> **·         ***Successful transition to retirement in Australia<http://socialsciencesdirectory.com/index.php/socscidir/article/view/19>
> *
>
> **·         ***Knowledge, attitude and belief of pregnant women towards
> safe motherhood in a rural Indian setting<http://socialsciencesdirectory.com/index.php/socscidir/article/view/23>
> *
>
> **·         ***Gender equality in the workplace: the perceptive reality<http://socialsciencesdirectory.com/index.php/socscidir/article/view/24>
> *****
>
> **
>

These would certainly be of interest to many OKF people and attendees of
#okfest.

>  **
>
> Our philosophy is that research in one field can also have applications in
> areas of research beyond that intended and the inter-disciplinary nature of
> a large collection of work – spanning the boundaries of subject and state -
> will help to cross-fertilise ideas. Open access publishing provides
> significant benefits for authors and readers alike in speeding up the time
> to publication and dissemination, author copyright retention and providing
> value-for-money for taxpayers. We aim to publish a regular schedule of
> research going forwards.****
>
>
>
I personally agree. Journals used to be more multidisciplinary that they
are today.


> We recognise the difficulty in moving from traditional journal publishing
> to new forms. You want to be able to trust that the publication maintains
> quality standards and maximises dissemination of your department’s work. We
> also firmly believe that Social Sciences Directory addresses many of the
> flaws within the scholarly publishing industry and can provide better
> levels of service. Submissions have been received from the UK, Australia,
> France, Brazil, Ethiopia, India and Kenya, whilst editors and reviewers
> from all over the world have offered their services, demonstrating an
> appetite and widespread support for the initiative. We hope that you will
> support our cause, will encourage your members to consider us when choosing
> where to publish and, if possible, mention *Social Sciences Directory*and Humanities Directory on your website.
> ****
>
>
One of the key things we need is optimism in new business models.Openness
is a valuable commodity but insufficiently valued!

>   ****
>
> Yours sincerely****
>
> Dan Scott MA, BA (Hons)****
>
> Director****
>
> *Social Sciences Directory Limited*
>
> T: +44 (0)1423 326 257****
>
> M: +44 (0)770 381 2042****
>
> ** **
>
> *www.socialsciencesdirectory.com* <http://www.socialsciencesdirectory.com>
> * ***
>
> *www.humanitiesdirectory.com* <http://www.humanitiesdirectory.com>**
>
> *READ IT. WRITE IT. CITE IT.*
>
> * *
>
> Social Sciences Directory is an affiliate member of the Open Access
> Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) <http://oaspa.org/>.****
>
> Dan Scott will be a speaker at the Munin open access conference<http://www.ub.uit.no/baser/ocs/index.php/Munin/MC7/schedConf/program>at the University of Tromsø,
> Norway (21-23 November 2012).****
>
> Call for papers<http://socialsciencesdirectory.com/index.php/socscidir/article/view/33>
> .****
>
> Press release<http://socialsciencesblog.co.uk/index.php/2012/09/23/press-release-poacher-turns-gamekeeper-issue-gold-open-access-publisher-social-sciences-directory-launched/>
> .****
>
> * *
>
> *Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail transmission may contain
> confidential or legally privileged information that is intended only for
> the individual or entity named in the e-mail address. If you are not the
> intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying,
> distribution, or reliance upon the contents of this e-mail is strictly
> prohibited. *****
>
> * If you have received this e-mail transmission in error, please reply to
> the sender, so that we can arrange for proper delivery, and then please
> delete the message from your inbox. Thank you.*****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* okfn-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org [mailto:
> okfn-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org] *On Behalf Of *Emanuil Tolev
> *Sent:* 04 October 2012 11:11
> *To:* Open Knowledge Foundation discussion list
> *Cc:* Ross Mounce; Mike Taylor
> *Subject:* Re: [okfn-discuss] [Open-access] Ross Mounce (Panton Fellow)
> on BBC about Open Access****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> On 3 October 2012 08:27, Peter Murray-Rust <pm286 at cam.ac.uk> wrote:****
>
> I'd be interested in hearing more about humanities research and open
> access if anyone on these lists is involved in these areas. I got the
> impression from talking with some of those concerned afterwards that
> humanities academics are very drawn to *paper* copies of journals, and this
> thus increases the cost of publishing for them.****
>
>
> Yes - if you want to contunue with the ways of the past it costs more
> money. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Paper journals are irrelevant to me and my research - they are 20th
> century reminders of how research used to be distributed. All I need is
> research distributed via the internet to be read on computers, tablets,
> phones, and other devices and hence I feel the cost of publishing research
> need only be very small. I suspect the difference of opinion encountered
> was based around this.****
>
> ** **
>
>  ****
>
> And the disconnection of cost from value. This is something that perhaps
> we should try to identify and formalize. Thus eveyrone can *read* physics
> in the archive. It then "has to be" published in paper. Why? (a) to provide
> a formal record - but a national library could do that for a fraction of
> the costs and (b) to give a formal label/score of approval. That's the main
> problem.****
>
> ** **
>
> I wonder if there aren't any further .. emotional (or sentimental, if you
> will) reasons for this attitude we ascribe to Humanities researchers. What
> if they just like reading from a paper and feel that their research has a
> special connection to that medium?****
>
>  ****
>
> PS Since I didn't get to mention it on air: it's Open Access Week soon!
> 22-28 October: http://www.openaccessweek.org/    Help celebrate & raise
> awareness of OA! ****
>
> Yes - but what actually is it? what are we meant to do? Last time I tried
> to contribute and got essentially zero feedback. Is it just a PR exercise
> for the mainstream OA community.
>
> I do not get a feeling of Openness in the same way as I do for other Open
> events.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Looks like Document Freedom Day or similar things. As in, it's not an
> *event*, it's whatever the community makes it. (And "the community" =
> whoever knows about this week and has the knowledge and inclination to
> create an event in their environment.) ****
>
> ** **
>
> Greetings,****
>
> Emanuil****
>



-- 
Peter Murray-Rust
Reader in Molecular Informatics
Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
University of Cambridge
CB2 1EW, UK
+44-1223-763069
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