Open Access Week: Trends & Developments, esp. with Hybrid OA

Today's post looks at some open access trends and developments, with a particular focus on hybrid open access.

1. OA trends on my blog (a microcosm!)

I have continued to aggregate the Open Access publications that I reference on this blog on a bimonthly basis. Here are the year-to-date (YTD) figures (i.e., January to mid-October 2018) for the different categories of OA literature that I track, compared with previous years:

- Gold OA = 211 (122 were health-related, 89 were other topics)
- Green OA = 53 (34 preprints, 19 postprints)
- Hybrid OA = 81

                          2015   2017   2018 (ytd)
- Gold OA           163     246     211
- Green OA           60       65      53   
- Hybrid OA          21       61       81

Keeping in mind that the total 2018 numbers will change by year-end, the overall trend suggests that gold and green OA are holding steady while hybrid OA has increased quite a bit, especially in light of the fact that the YTD 2018 figure is already higher than the figure for all 12 months of 2017!

2. Growth in hybrid open access

The growth in hybrid OA may be due to several factors: Many research funders will cover the costs associated with hybrid OA publishing (these usually take the form of APCs, or Article Processing Charges) (Björk​, 2017). Also, hybrid journals offer "prestige and tradition" to researchers: They are well-established and have achieved a certain reputation (think Journal of Refugee Studies!).  Finally, some funder mandates stipulate either immediate open access or the deposit of an eprint within a defined period of time (usually 6-12 months). An unintended consequence has been that some traditional journal publishers have lengthened embargo periods for self-archiving (or green OA), which in turn has nudged authors towards the hybrid OA option in order to ensure compliance with their funders.

3. Hybrid OA costs

That said, the APCs associated with hybrid OA compared with gold OA have generally tended to be higher (Pinfield, Salter & Bath, 2017). For a while, the average APC for hybrid OA hovered around $3000 (although my post last year showed some APCs decreasing).  However, the costs now seem to be on the rise, at least with some of the larger publishers.  This this table provides a recently-updated list of APCs charged by traditional forced migration-related journals that offer hybrid OA.

Here is a summary of what those APCs have done over the past two years:

• Brill (European Journal of Migration & Law, Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies): APCs decreased in 2017, but have gone back up in 2018.
• Cambridge Univ. Press (International Review of the Red Cross): APC stayed the same in 2017, but rose this year.
• Emerald Publishing (International Journal of Migration, Health & Social Care): APC went up in 2017 and in 2018.
• Inderscience (International Journal of Migration & Border Studies): APC remained the same in 2017 and in 2018.
• SAGE (International Migration Review): IMR was published by Wiley last year; the APC this year has remained the same despite the transition.
• Springer (Journal of International Migration & Integration): APC remained the same in 2017 and in 2018.
• Taylor & Francis (Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies): The APCs quoted in US dollars remained the same in 2017 and 2018, while those quoted in British pounds increased in 2018.
• Wiley (Disasters, International Migration): APCs decreased in 2017, and have not increased again in 2018. 

Costs for the four journal titles published by Oxford University Press have not followed one consistent pattern. Last year, the APCs for International Journal of Refugee Law went down, stayed the same for Refugee Survey Quarterly, and went up for Journal of Refugee Studies and Migration Studies! This year, APCs increased for all four journals, with Migration Studies topping out at $3,480, the highest APC for all titles listed in my table!

4. What if you can't afford to pay?

Interestingly, most of the very large journal publishers reflected above do not offer discounts or waivers for the APCs associated with hybrid OA (whereas they *do* for gold OA). Oxford University Press is the exception. Here are the current "reduced rate developing country charges" for its four migration-related journal titles (note that these countries will not be charged any rate at all):
IJRL = $1,618
JRS = $1,654
Migr. Stud. = $1,740
RSQ = $1,654

In the end, the most cost-effective alternative for providing open access to articles published in the  journals listed above is to go with the green OA option, which I will discuss in a later post. But first, I will look at gold OA developments tomorrow.

Tagged Publications.