10 Aug
2005
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digital scholarly publishing
The UK Digital Curation Centre (DCC),
an academic and institutional consortium grappling with questions
about long term access to digital media, has released the
first part of its first online Digital Curation Manual.
The DCC Manual is being developed collaboratively
as a peer reviewed “community-driven resource” for use by
data creators, curators and re-users. It is envisaged that
each part of the Manual will provide an introduction
to a topic, an explanation of terminology, suggestions for
best practice and as importantly - real-life examples. Parts
will be reviewed and updated annually.
The first part, by Andrew McHugh, covers
Open Source for Digital Curation. It discusses digital
curation questions in relation to open
source software, describes examples of current use of
open source, identifies open source applications of particular
interest offers guidelines for institutions. It will be followed
shortly by parts on metadata
and curation of dynamic data.
SPARC and the Open Society Institute (OSI) have meanwhile
released two new guides about scholarly publishing.
They are a reminder that the DCC’s concerns about a whole
of lifecycle approach to archiving electronic publications
is for naught if publication doesn’t proceed or remains locked
up by a particular body.
As the title suggests, the SPARC Sponsorships for Nonprofit
Scholarly & Scientific Journals: A Guide to Defining & Negotiating
Successful Sponsorships guide
is an aid to scholarly publishers finding sponsors and managing
the corporate sponsorship process, which is broader than philanthropy
or advertising. The Guide aims to help “nonprofit
publishers evaluate the viability of implementing a corporate
sponsorship program and describes ways to develop a sponsorship
program as a component of the journal's income stream”. It
has a strong US flavour but comments are applicable to Australian
publishing, particularly for Australian-based scientific/technical
journals with an international readership. It is of relevance
because Australian sponsorship facilitation bodies such as
ABAF
have neglected scholarly publishing and more broadly the
humanities and sciences in favour of the performing and
visual arts.
The OSI Guide to Open Access Publishing and Scholarly
Societies also has a practical approach to scholarly
publishing. The Guide
was authored by Jan Velterop, former publisher of the exemplary
BioMed Central. It is refreshingly modest, indicating that
it
has a limited scope. It is meant to help scholarly societies
- and small publishers - assess the options available to them
for the future of their journal publishing programmes. Though
the option of keeping the status quo of subscription-based
journals is discussed, the focus is on conversion of existing
journals to open access, either in one go, or via an intermediate
managed transition phase … For societies that make the choice
for open access, this guide aims to provide practical help
to reduce or even eliminate financial risks and make conversion
of an existing journal into an open access one a smooth and
professional process.
Consistent with the aims of the Soros Foundation, the OSI’s
funder, the Guide comments that
Scholarly Societies are 'natural' Open Access publishers ...
A society serious about furthering the science and practice
in its chosen field is bound to consider these benefits and
to look for ways of using them wherever possible for the attainment
of its goals.
Velterop concludes that societies moving to open access publishing
will “do much to further the widespread dissemination of knowledge
in the area of science that they foster and promote”. He also
questions the often deep-seated belief that scholarly and professional
organizations accrue greater financial benefits from traditional
paid-access publishing models “this is a false perception”.
OA of course shifts rather than eliminates or necessarily reduces
costs, one reason why the SPARC Guide is significant.
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