Finally back to my blog series on Global South-based authors and how they provide open access to their research! Links to the initial three posts are provided below.
The first post in the series noted that only 13% of the articles in my analysis were published as hybrid OA. This lower figure is not surprising given that the APCs associated with the hybrid option are generally much higher than gold open access APCs. For example, in my sample, the hybrid APC range was US$2690 to US$4011, compared with gold APCs reported in my previous post: these ranged more broadly from US$55 to US$3500.
Unlike gold OA, hybrid OA publishers do not offer waivers/discounts to authors with limited resources, the rationale being that those authors can instead default to the green OA route (i.e., deposit a postprint in a repository - more on this option in the next post). Otherwise, the remaining alternative for dealing with higher costs is to collaborate with other authors, particularly those based in the Global North. And in my analysis, most -- or 65% -- hybrid OA articles did result from such collaborations.
That said, many funders are no longer covering APCs associated with hybrid OA; Coalition S is the most recent example, stipulating that its funders "will only pay for ‘hybrid’ OA for articles in journals with transformative agreements and only until end of December 2024." What impact might this have on publisher's APC policies?
The opportunity to publish in one's journal of choice and to then provide immediate open access to that article upon payment of a fee is appealing because it enables authors to continue to share their research in longstanding titles in their area of expertise; as this blog post notes, hybrid journals offer "prestige and tradition." And yet, as this commentary points out, the price for "prestige" is out of reach for most Southern authors. Even APCs for the well-established titles in the refugee and forced migration field are reaching into the US$4000 range.
Over the last two years, many publishers have taken steps to advance their commitment to diversity and inclusion. For example, Disasters now displays a "Diversity and Inclusion Statement" on its home page. Oxford University Press recently joined the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications and adopted their Joint Statement of Principles; other partners are listed here. In June 2020, the Royal Society of Chemistry issued a Joint Commitment for Action on Inclusion and Diversity in Publishing -- which most major journal publishers have since signed onto -- and has launched an initiative to track diversity in research journals. The two latter statements pledge to address barriers to participation in scholarly publishing and communications. Since APCs definitely qualify as a major barrier to authors in the Global South, addressing them would greatly enhance their opportunities to participate.
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