from the open-access-of-our-own dept
When books had been uncommon and intensely costly, they had been usually chained to the bookcase to stop folks strolling off with them, in what had been often known as “chained libraries”. Copyright serves an identical function at the moment, though, because of the miracle of good, zero-cost digital copies, it’s attainable concurrently to take an e book house and but go away the unique behind. For 1 / 4 of a century, the open entry motion has been preventing to interrupt these digital chains for tutorial works, and to permit anybody freely to learn and make copies of the data contained in on-line digital libraries.
The detailed historical past of the motion might be present in Chapter 3 of Walled Tradition the guide (free digital variations out there). Because the timeline there, and posts on this weblog each clarify, the open entry motion has made solely restricted progress regardless of the big effort expended by many devoted people. Furthermore the open entry thought has been embraced after which subverted by the tutorial publishers whose greed and selfishness it was meant to struggle.
One model of open entry, often known as the “diamond” variant, nonetheless presents hope that the targets of free entry to data for everybody may nonetheless be achieved. However even this minimalist strategy to tutorial publishing requires funding, which raises questions on its long-term sustainability. Financial points additionally lie on the coronary heart of wider discussions about what may exchange copyright, which was born within the analogue world, and whose dysfunctional nature within the digital atmosphere is clear each day.
Walled Tradition the guide concludes with a have a look at maybe probably the most promising different mannequin, whereby “true followers” help immediately the creators whose work they worth. This strategy can be utilized to open entry. On this case, the “true followers” of the analysis work revealed in papers and books are the tutorial libraries, performing on behalf of the individuals who use them. There are numerous methods for them to help the journals their lecturers need to entry, however some of the promising is “subscribe to open” (S2O), which helps publishers convert conventional journals into open entry. The thought was formalized by Raym Crow, Richard Gallagher, Kamran Naim in 2019. Right here’s their clarification of the way it works:
S2O presents a journal’s present subscribers continued entry at a reduction off the common subscription value. If present subscribers take part within the S2O supply, the writer opens the content material lined by that yr’s subscription. If participation just isn’t adequate – for instance, if some subscribers delay renewing within the expectation that they’ll achieve entry with out collaborating – then the content material stays gated. As a result of the writer doesn’t assure that the content material will likely be opened except all subscribers take part within the supply, establishments that worth entry to the content material – demonstrably, the journal’s present subscribers – should both subscribe conventionally (at full value) or take part in S2O (at a reduction) to make sure continued entry. The supply is repeated yearly, with the opening of every yr’s content material contingent on adequate participation.
As with the “true followers” mannequin, supporting S2O journals is within the self-interest of libraries, which obtain subscriptions to journals their lecturers need, and for a lower cost. However there’s a collateral profit for society as a result of everybody else additionally receives entry to the data contained in these titles. Publishers obtain a assured subscription earnings up entrance, and as a consequence of the open entry route, they’ll additionally attain a bigger viewers. For instance, when the Annual Evaluate of Public Well being publication tried out the S2O mannequin, its month-to-month utilization issue went up by an element of eight. Since that profitable trial, the S2O mannequin has gone from power to power, as a assessment article revealed on the finish of final yr explains:
As of 2024, because of the Subscribe to Open mannequin, over 180 journals have been in a position to publish whole volumes in open entry, which might by no means have been attainable in any other case due to the shortcomings of the [article processing charge] fashions for these journals and their respective disciplines. The S2O mannequin continues to develop, with extra publishers set to launch their S2O choices in 2025.
In August, the celebrated Royal Society introduced that it might be shifting eight of its subscription journals to S2O. Amongst these titles is Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the world’s longest-running scientific journal. In an article reflecting on that transfer, Rod Cookson, publishing director of The Royal Society, defined why he and different forward-thinking publishers are followers of S2O:
It’s value impartial and a comparatively small change via which libraries can allow whole journals to grow to be open entry. This mixture of simplicity and transparency has generated enthusiasm for S2O amongst librarians the world over. Publishers now must reveal to these librarians that along with being aligned with their missions, S2O delivers a return on funding that justifies their expenditure. With smart options that make the S2O proposition work properly for each libraries and publishing homes—like multi-year agreements, “premium advantages” for S2O supporters, and collective gross sales packages—S2O will proceed to develop as a trusted and sturdy mannequin for delivering open entry.
S2O represents a profitable software of the true followers thought within the context of educational publishing. However maybe supporters of open entry ought to embrace much more of the true fan spirit and look to the instance of fan fiction to assist re-imagine scholarly publishing. That, no less than, is the daring thought of Caroline Ball, who’s the group engagement lead for the Open E book Collective, and whose advocacy work appeared in Walled Tradition 4 years in the past. Right here’s why she thinks tutorial analysis ought to be extra like fan fiction:
At first look, fanfiction—non-commercial works created by followers who reimagine and remix current tales, characters, and worlds—and tutorial analysis could seem worlds aside. However look nearer, and each are practices of deep engagement, intertextual interpretation, and data creation.
Fanfiction doesn’t simply regurgitate tales; it interrogates, reinvents, and expands on them, usually filling in gaps and exclusions left offscreen. Likewise, scholarship builds on prior work, challenges assumptions, and contributes new insights. Each are iterative, dialogic, and group based mostly. And each, at their greatest, come from a spot of ardour and curiosity.
Her put up explains how Archive of Our Personal (AO3), a community-run digital repository for fan fiction, works, and why it might be a mannequin for a brand new sort of open entry:
Archive of Our Personal (AO3) is a community-run digital repository for fanfiction. Launched in 2008 by the nonprofit Group for Transformative Works (OTW), AO3 is completely open entry. It expenses nothing to publish, nothing to learn, and is powered by open-source code and volunteer labor. As of Might 2025 (in accordance with the OTW Communications Committee), it hosts over 15 million works throughout 71,880 fandoms and sees a each day common of 94 million hits.
Ball goes on to suggests methods through which scholarly publishing may study from that evident success. Particular areas embrace AO3’s versatile metadata system; its progressive strategy to critiques and feedback; its “format agnosticism”, accepting any sort of contribution; and the best way it re-imagines recognition and repute. In abstract, she writes:
AO3 reminds us that platforms might be constructed by and for communities, with out extractive revenue fashions or exclusionary hierarchies. It reveals what’s attainable when infrastructure is handled as a public good, and when participation is scaffolded, not gated. And crucially, AO3 demonstrates how practices which were piloted in isolation throughout the scholarly panorama—open peer commentary, volunteer governance, versatile metadata, inclusive codecs—might be woven collectively right into a single, sustainable system.
The S2O mannequin described above is a welcome addition to the methods through which sustainable open entry might be introduced in by publishers. However in the end Ball is true in emphasizing that common and unconstrained entry to data will solely be achieved when the whole scholarly publishing system is re-invented with that aim in thoughts. It’s properly previous time for all of the followers of open entry to unite on this endeavor, and to cast off at the moment’s digital chained libraries eternally.
Comply with me @glynmoody on Mastodon and on Bluesky. Initially revealed to Walled Tradition.
Filed Underneath: tutorial journals, group funding, open entry, s2o, subscribe to open
Corporations: royal society
