"For Researchers in the Humanities, Is Open Really Fair?"
https://katinamagazine.org/content/article/open-knowledge/2025/for-researchers-in-the-humanities-is-open-really-fair

PS: This article objects to #APCs and "transformative" (#ReadAndPublish) agreements, especially in the humanities. So far, so good. But then it leaves the false impression that all or most #OpenAccess falls into those two categories, which is false and harmful. It never mentions #GreenOA. It mentions #DiamondOA once, for books, and never for articles. It's strong on problems and very weak and even misleading on solutions.

I share the objections to APCs and read-and-publish agreements. I wrote stronger versions of them, extended to all disciplines, for the Budapest Open Access Initiative 20th anniversary statement.
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

I'm in the humanities and (with the exception of one 1999 book) have made all my books and articles OA. I've never paid an APC and never will. I boycott APC-based publishers both as an author and referee and encourage others to do so.

Scholars in the humanities need accurate info about their OA options, not one-sided criticism of OA as such.

#BOAI20 #Humanities

Unclear on the concept

This editorial in a #Wiley journal praises Wiley for promoting equitable #OpenAccess publishing in #LatinAmerica through #ReadAndPublish agreements that discount #APCs in proportion to national GDP.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.71964

PS: To me, equitable OA moves 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 from both APCs and read-and-publish agreements. For the arguments, see the Budapest Open Access Initiative 20th anniversary statement, especially recommendations 3 and 4.
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

#BOAI #BOAI20 #DEI #Publishing #ScholComm

Update. My own objections to these deals overlap significantly with Barr's. See the #BOAI20 Recommendation 4 ("Move away from read-and-publish agreements"). www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

BOAI20 – Budapest Open Access ...

Peter Barr explains why three UK #universities recently cancelled their #Elsevier #ReadAndPublish agreements and why these deals are unsustainable.
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20250211161002365

PS: My own objections to these deals overlap significantly with Barr's. See the #BOAI20 Recommendation 4 ("Move away from read-and-publish agreements").
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

#Cancellations #OpenAccess #ScholComm

#Academia
@academicchatter

Update. The #BOAI is transitioning into an organization, BOAI Org.

"The new organization will foster the development of equitable #OpenAccess and support the adoption of policies, practices and sustainability models that make scholarly communications free to read and publish. The BOAI Org will provide support and guidance to accelerate the implementation of our 20th Anniversary Recommendations which address the systemic problems that obstruct progress towards the realization of our original vision that 'an old tradition and a new technology have converged to make possible an unprecedented public good.'"

Read today's announcement for more on the org's plans and priorities.
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/news/boai-transitioning-to-organization-to-support-the-development-of-equitable-open-access/

(Disclosure: I'm on the steering committee.)

#BOAI20 #BOAI_Org #ScholComm

Today is the 23d birthday of the Budapest Open Access Initiative.
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read/

BOAI is still active and issued its 20th anniversary recommendations in 2022.
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

Unlike previous BOAI statements, which made many recommendations, the 20th anniversary statement deliberately focused on just a small number of top priorities:

1. Adopting #OpenInfrastructure
2. Reforming #ResearchAssessment
3. Moving away from #APCs
4. Moving away from #ReadAndPublish agreements.

I'm proud of my association with the #BOAI, #BOAI10, and #BOAI20.

Happy #ValentinesDay to all who are working for #OpenAccess worldwide.

New study: "Current levels of implementation of #transformative agreements is insufficient to bring about a large-scale transition to full #OpenAccess."
https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00348

Reminder from the Budapest Open Access Initiative 20th anniversary statement, section 4.6: "Paying #APCs at hybrid journals [through these agreements] pays the journals to stay hybrid. It pays them to resist the conversion to full #OA that many institutions intend and predict when they enter the agreements."
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

#BOAI20 #ReadAndPublish #ScholComm

New study: "Our analysis demonstrates that research institutions seem to be ‘trapped’ in #transformative agreements [aka #ReadAndPublish agreements]. Instead of being a bridge towards a fully #OpenAccess world, academia is stuck in the #hybrid system."
https://www.cwts.nl/seminars/announcements?article=n-t2s284&title=trapped-in-transformative-agreements-a-multifaceted-analysis-of-1000-contracts

Reminder from the Budapest Open Access Initiative 20th anniversary statement, section 4.6: "Journals covered by [transformative or read-and-publish] agreements are…hybrid journals…Paying #APCs at hybrid journals [through these agreements] pays the journals to stay hybrid. It pays them to resist the conversion to full #OA that many institutions intend and predict when they enter the agreements."
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

#BOAI20 #ScholComm

Taking this a bit further:

From the U of Surrey: "The university continuously reviews all it commercial subscriptions for value for money, and…concluded that the Jisc-negotiated ‘Read and Publish’ deal with Elsevier was 'not sustainable in the current financial climate'."
https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-universities-2025-1-uk-university-drops-elsevier-deal/

From the Budapest Open Access Initiative 20th anniversary statement, section 4.3: Read-and-publish agreements "are unsustainable, by paying more than necessary and putting short-term growth ahead of long-term growth."
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

#BOAI20

Update with a comment.

Don't throw in the towel. First, reform research #assessment to move away from journal impact factors (#JIFs) and to pay more attention to the quality of research than the number of publications or where they published. Second, move away from #APCs. To make research #OpenAccess, favor no-APC #GreenOA and #DiamondOA over APC-based varieties.

BTW, the Budapest Open Access Initiative 20th anniversary statement makes both these recommendations. (Disclosure: I was a co-author.)
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

#BOAI #BOAI20

New study: "Research institutions seem to be 'trapped' in #TransformativeAgreements. Instead of being a bridge towards a fully #OpenAccess world, academia is stuck in the #hybrid system."
https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.20224

PS: This confirms the #BOAI20 diagnosis (March 2022): "Paying #APCs at hybrid journals pays the journals to stay hybrid. It pays them to resist the conversion to full OA that many institutions intend and predict when they enter the agreements."
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

#ReadAndPublish

@tamiel
Absolutely. That's why the Budapest Open Access Initiative 20th anniversary statement doesn't call them "transformative". For its full argument against them, see Recommendation 4. (Disclosure: I was a co-author.)
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

#BOAI #BOAI20

I like the Open Source Pledge.
https://osspledge.com/

If your institution uses #OpenSource software, it should chip in to pay for it.

We can extend the idea to the #OpenInfrastructure supporting #OpenAccess to research. First, institutions should use open rather than proprietary #infrastructure (see e.g. the #BOAI20, Recommendation 1). Second, when they use it, they should chip in to pay for it.

@openscience

One of the strongest objections to #APCs is that they exclude large numbers of scholarly authors on economic grounds, unrelated to the merit of their work. (See e.g. the #BOAI20, recommendation 3.)

A new study argues that this exclusion shows up in #CitationBias against authors from the #GlobalSouth. The bias itself is well-documented and the authors argue that the rise of APCs is one factor in explaining it.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665944124000142

#ScholComm

2/ This one of those good ideas that would benefit everyone but for which nearly everyone finds it hard to go first. (For many people this is the definition of a #CollectiveAction problem.)

It would contribute in a small way to the largest need of research #assessment reform, namely (in the words of #BOAI20), "for research assessment committees to pay less attention to where research is published and more attention to the quality of research itself."
https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

Update. For a critique of "transformative" or read-and-publish agreements, see Recommendation 4 of the Budapest Open Access Initiative 20th anniversary statement. (Disclosure: I helped write this.) https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai20/

#APCs #BOAI #BOAI20 #DiamondOA #GreenOA #OpenAccess
@openscience

Congratulations to a Faculty Committee at the University of Rhode Island for calling for the closure of the university's #OpenAccess Fund which supports APCs. The Committee argues that "rather than covering APC expenses of a small number of URI faculty, OA Fund resources should be redirected toward efforts that will have greater impact."

These actions align with the #BOAI20 Recommendations to move away from APCs.

Full report: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED650495.pdf

#BOAI20 🔓"Open Access as a Means to Equity: Progress, Challenges, and the Continued Role for the BOAI" ➡️
https://sparcopen.org/news/2024/open-access-as-a-means-to-equity/
#openaccess #openscience

ICYMI....Here's a great post by @MelissaHagemann on the anniversary of #BOAI20 Recommendations. Today, over half of all scholarly journal articles are freely available for anyone. More work is needed ensure systems to support #OpenAccess are truly equitable.
https://sparcopen.org/news/2024/open-access-as-a-means-to-equity/

On the 2nd anniv of the #BOAI20 Recommendations,
@MelissaHagemann offers insights on #OpenAccess as a means to equity.

Thanks to @sparc, @petersuber and the whole BOAI20 Steering Committee which developed the BOAI20 Recommendations.

https://sparcopen.org/news/2024/open-access-as-a-means-to-equity/