Learned Publishing April, issue4 2011

 

Green, Green, it's Green OA they say.. - LP October issue now out

 

But is it really on the far side of the hill? Or further away? Or out of
reach altogether? 

 

Given the fashionable connotation that 'green' implies sustainable
development, a conclusion of a RIN (Research Information Network) study that
Green OA is probably not the best model for a sustainable future might be
seen as ironic. Or not, since 'Green' and 'Gold' were always peculiar terms
to use. Whatever your persuasion, Michael Jubb and his co-authors take us
through, in some detail, a summary of their work on this topic -'Heading for
the Open Road' (see where I got the idea of using some double meaning of the
terminology?).

 

But we really give the implications of some of these ideas a working over in
this issue of LP (by coincidence). We also have a detailed article from
Julia Wallace updating us on the huge PEER project. This is investigating,
with help from all sectors, any systematic effects of Green OA and has so
far processed 44,000 documents for its 'observatory' - see where it's got to
so far.

 

And then we have a survey from Chris Armbruster of many institutions, in a
variety of countries, who have instituted a policy of repository deposit,
and how they've got on, and what lessons can be learned.

 

All good stuff, but enough related to OA, you might say. Well, OK , but
there's another article with a part repository angle at least. How can you
know what usage of a published article is if the final version resides on
both repositories and on the publisher site? Good question. PIRUS2 has been
attempting to answer that and has decided it is feasible to aggregate the
stats. Check out why they think that and what recommendations they make in
Peter Shepherd's article. 

 

Shifting gear a bit, have you wondered what results from deep-discounted or
free access to journals for developing countries? Phil Davis has conducted a
study for the agricultural area in sub-Saharan Africa - do they produce
more, cite more etc as a result? Interesting findings..

 

Or perhaps you want to sell more to some of the quickly developing areas -
following on from our article on Russia, we now have one on Brazil - no
longer is the quote true : 'it's the country of the future, and it always
will be..'. David Myers fills us in on what is really the only show in town
as far as Brazil is concerned, in 'Selling to the BRIC - Brazil'

 

Back to the developed world -- we know, don't we, that just a few publishers
produce most of the journals and articles, with a very long tail of smaller
ones. But would you like to see it quantified? We have an article that tries
to do that - do let me know if you fully understand the associated diagrams
(not necessary to understand the article) and I might give you an honourable
mention, or ask you to be a referee on future submissions.

 

The journal publishing system within China is changing fast, and we would
all do well to watch it (more on this in future issues). But it's not
without internal strains - a cry from some in the system - 'will access be
sacrificed for profit?' would presumably have been unthinkable a few years
ago - see why they're worried.

 

And lastly, we have a research letter which may be the last word, as far as
LP is concerned, on the 'submit when hot' (i.e. re seasonal bias in peer
review) - plus, of course, some meaty book reviews.

 

 

 

Alan Singleton 

September 2011 

 

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