Global Shift Towards Open Access Publishing: Key Challenges for Research Community

Abstract

Global shift from pay walled publishing towards open access publishing and transformation of OPEN ACCESS in different platforms like the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Bethesda Statement and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge is discussed. Various routes of open access publishing and its advantages and challenges are discussed. Types of Creative Commons Licenses and its effects in open access scenario are discussed. The various colours on different mode of self archiving policies framed by various publishers in SHERPA/ ROMEO databases are highlighted. Publishing trends in journal articles and books in open access mode as well as funding problems in “Gold” OA Publishing, implications in “Green” OA in self archiving etc are also discussed. Mandate of OA by various countries, funding agencies, employers and its impact etc is highlighted. The findings of the “DE Gruyer Open Author’s Survey” is highlighted to reflect the present trends like 26.8% of authors responded positively for having money to pay publications fee in the year 2016. Authors who published more papers than their average disciplinary colleagues in the last 3 years were more optimistic with regard to the availability of publication funds for them. As per this survey, the biggest group of researchers have funds for publications directly from their employers and an abundance of funding sources is mostly appearing for researchers working STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) and is rare for Humanities and Social Sciences. Authors in peripheral countries often have less access to money from grants than their core counter parts. The frequency of paying articles processing charges decreases with career level, while its average amount increases. Authors who publish more papers than their average disciplinary colleagues are more likely to have access to national funding sources, institutional sources and grant money