scholarly publishing the aosis journey · open access scholarly publishing the aosis journey pierre...

Open AccessOpen Access Scholarly Publishing 

h jThe AOSIS journey

Pierre JT de VilliersManaging Director: OpenJournals PublishingManaging Director: OpenJournals PublishingAfrican Online Scientific Information Systems (AOSIS) Pty Ltd(AOSIS) Pty Ltd

Perspectives from an Open Access Publisher

• How I become involved in OA• How I become involved in OA

• The AOSIS journey 2005 – 2010The AOSIS journey 2005  2010

• Reflections on this journeyReflections on this journey

How I became involved i O Ain Open Access

South African Family PracticeSouth African Family Practice(incl. Geneeskunde)

• Editor ‐ 1998

S i t j l• Society journal

• Print only – bi monthlyy y

• 4000 free distribution to members & GP’sto members & GP s

• Advertising income

South African Family PracticeSouth African Family Practice(incl. Geneeskunde)

• 4 manuscripts on desk!

L b i i• Low submissions

• Locally read (?)y ( )

• Difficult production

N i ll i bl• Not economically viable due to lack of interest amongst GP’s

2005

W ld fl ttWorld flatteners

Creative software

The internet

O ftOpen source software

Search enginesSearch engines

Outsourcing

2001 - Open source Software

Open Journal Systems (OJS)6600 titles (July 2010)6600 es (Ju y 0 0)

• Online December 2005• First OJS journal in RSAj• Open Access June 2006

SAFP on the chartsSAFP on the charts

SAFP cities Oct 2010SAFP cities Oct 201010 000 visitors per month10,000 visitors per month

The AOSIS JourneyThe AOSIS Journey

Est. 1999

E-Learning serviceswww.ituta.net

www.ecpd.co.za

Need: Services for OA journalsNeed: Services for OA journals

OJS support

Manuscript copyediting, proofreading

Online publishingOnline publishingPDF, HTML, XML

Est. 2007

Open Accessp

Online production and publication OJSOnline production and publication OJS

Quality

P bli hAuthor

Publish

Editor Rejectria

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Section RejectEd

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men

Editor Reject

er’s

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Re c

E t l E t lRev

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ExternalReviewer

ExternalReviewer

ExternalReviewer

RR

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OJP Production FlowOJP Production Flow

Manuscript uploaded on Peer review Copyediting

(3 steps)uploaded on system (2 reviewers)

(3 steps)

Layoutediting

Proofreading(3 steps)

Publication (immediate)

Starting the journeyStarting the journey

2007

OJS support for 

2008

First OA journalMedpharm Publications

10 titles

Title growthTitle growth

10

7

3

Manuscript growthManuscript growthSubmitted v/s published manuscripts

1000

800

900

500

600

700

300

400

500

100

200

02008 2009 2010

Submitted Published

AchievementsAchievements

First OJS deployment in RSA (SAFP)  23

First DOI registration with Crossref 

from RSA  www.crossref.org

Scielo SA – first publisher to join

www.scielo.org.za

AchievementsAchievements

First XML journal publication in RSA 

(PDF, HTML & XML)(PDF, HTML & XML)

First OASPA memberFirst OASPA member 

from Sub‐Saharan Africa

First SPARC Europe seal for open access p pjournals for an African journal

R fl ti thReflection on the journeyjourney

Coversion to OA is slow (but sure)( )

Current situation (OA) 2010Current situation (OA) ‐ 2010

• International estimates: 3‐14% (Gold)

• African Journals Online (AJOL)African Journals Online (AJOL)

–103/397 Peer reviewed journals in Africa (26%)

• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

–RSA 26/315 (8%)

• Own count 2009 = 25% of DHET accredited

OA per discipline ‐ 2009p pBo‐Christer Björk et al, PloS One, June 2010

Obstacles to OA conversion in RSAObstacles to OA conversion in RSA

S i t b hi b fit• Society membership: benefits closed clubclosed club

• In‐house control: individuals, universities (fear of outsourcing)

• Fear of change and technology: XML, DOI no printDOI, no print

Obstacles to OA conversion in RSAObstacles to OA conversion in RSA

• Financial viability: Title owners reaping benefits but not investingbenefits, but not investing

• Perceived costs: Outsourcing v/s hidden costs – staff, offices, communication

C i l t ll bli h b• Commercial toll access publisher buy‐outs (honey trap)y p

Author side publication fees(page fees)

f ibl i RSAfeasible in RSA

Who pays for the beer?Who pays for the beer?

Production cost

Author side publication fees

OR

Title owner subsidyTitle owner subsidy

OR

Both (mix)

Page fees experiencePage fees experience

• Usually paid by institution – growing support

• DHET subsidy supportDHET subsidy support

• Range R1,500 – R5,000 per article– Theology

– Industrial psychologyp y gy

– Health science

Management science– Management science

Supporting research not businessSupporting research, not business models

“The institutions that pay for journalThe institutions that pay for journal subscriptions aren't trying to support the 

TA business model; they're trying toTA business model; they re trying to support research.

They won't follow the business model;They won t follow the business model; they'll follow the authors.”

Peter Suber

Who is in the driving seat?Who is in the driving seat?

" h k ll kl d h"I think you will quickly discover that journals (even the arrogant ones) need authorsmore than authors need them."them.

Richard Smith

Impact factors/prestige factor

“Measuring up” challenge for OA“Measuring up” challenge for OA

• Universities/NRF  use prestige & impact for reward (surrogate forimpact for reward (surrogate for quality)

• Most high‐prestige journals are TA and have good IF’shave good IF s

• Most OA journals are new (no, low IF)

• Progress: some OA journals top IF

P tiPrestige

Prestige is the flywheel preserving the l i h h ipresent system long into the era when it 

might have been superseded by a superior l i i d f h h idalternative. Or viewed from the other side, it's the flywheel delaying progress.

Peter SuberPeter Suber

Science research papers 2001p p

W ld fl ttWorld flatteners

Creative software

The internet

O ftOpen source software

Search enginesSearch engines

Outsourcing

The key is OAThe key……is OA

pierre@aosis.co.za