Should the model for science publishing be rethought – and what is involved in publishing? The blog in November

Julkaistu kirjoittanut Juuso P Ala-Kyyny

The Think Open blog themes in November were strongly related to open access publishing and author fees. The articles also dealt with open source at the University of Helsinki and the process of academic publishing from the publisher’s perspective.

(Tämä artikkeli on saatavilla myös suomeksi.)

Open source

  • As a rule, the University of Helsinki (UH) favours open-source solutions. In practice, the choices are also steered by other aspects concerning usability, maintenance and cost. The Think Open blog article discuss the open source policy and softwares adopted at the UH.

Open access

  • The Annals of Medicine became an open access journal this year. What has been changed and was the transition succesfull? In the Think Open interview (in Finnish), he long-running Finnish editors of the medical journal, founded in 1989, are sharing their views on the transition. Themes range from peer review and quality of manuscripts to journal impact.
  • ”The whole model for science publishing should be rethought.” In the blog article, UH researchers share their views on open access publishing, article processing charges (APC) and self-archiving. In principle, open access (OA) is thought of as important and useful, but from a practical perspective, there are still some challenges.

Academic publishing

  • What does a publisher actually do? In this blog post, Managing Director of the Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications shares the views of an independent international publisher by bringing out professional expertises required to publish a book and the costs of publishing in both open access and traditional publishing.

Article processing charges (APCs)

  • How do APCs contribute to the openness of science? is the key question in the fourth part of the blog’s APC series. Article processing charges are part of a diverse set of options in open access publishing, a sector that aims to make open access to research publications the leading approach. This strategy in scholarly publishing is supported by the different methods that deliver open content.
  • What work is involved in author fees at the library? The third part of the blog’s APC series introduces the background – ranging from negotiating contracts to monitoring the payments – work included in open access fees (APCs) to make the process as smooth as possible to UH researcher.
  • What kind of support does the University of Helsinki offer in open access fees? The second part of the blog’s APC series brings two main ways for UH researchers to get support for open access fees (APCs): either through journal subscription deals or from the APC funding.

Services for researchers

  • The National Library of Finland offers researcher and data services at four levels: the materials can be used independently, with the support of experts, in project co-operation and in the future also in residencies. The blog article (in Finnish) goes through researcher services level by level. The National Library’s multilingual collections and data materials serve both as source material and research literature for researchers.

On what topics you would like to read on the Think Open blog? Or do you have a topic you would like to write about? Please contact us by writing in the comment field below or by email: juuso.ala-kyyny@helsinki.fi.

​​​​​​​Previous Think Open monthly overviews can be found here.