Thesis title
Open Access: a change in academic publishing with limited reach? An investigation of the effect of open access.
Project
A large proportion of the academic literature is behind a paywall and remains an obstacle for researchers in their pursuit of new knowledge. The blame is often put on large commercial publishing houses and the arrangement of subscription-based journals. The proposed solution to this problem is open access, which can be accommodated either through publishing in dedicated journals based on a different business model than subscription or by depositing a previous subscription-based articles in a dedicated repository for later dissemination after a publisher-imposed embargo.
Open access has become a hot political topic and adopted in science policy worldwide, especially in Europe. Particularly ‘Plan S’ by an international coalition of funders has stirred debate by mandating immediate open access (as opposed to embargoed open access), effectively limiting the researcher’s choice of journals. Science policy has also introduced an external commercial logic to open access and the academic literature, which is regarded as an important source of knowledge for both private and public sector, not only for researchers.
With the policy-push for open access as a backdrop; how does open access affect the science system and does open access deliver the benefits as argued for in policies? Important parts of the project are the possible impact of open access for non-academic users and the incentive structures attached to academic journals. Prestigious high-impact subscription-based journals are perceived as bringing researchers more academic credits than gold open access journals. The thesis aims to answer how open access affects the wider research system and what the obstacles are to its introduction.
Supervisor
Magnus Gulbrandsen, TIK
Commentator
Cameron Neylon, Curtin University
How to participate
The seminar is open to everyone and the manuscript (draft) is available upon request.
Please register for the event by sending an e-mail to Ingrid Helene Johnsen i.h.johnsen@tik.uio.no, and you will receive a link to the Zoom-event.
Welcome!