Abstract
Adoption of open access in the humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) is a work in progress, with lower engagement in HASS than most of the natural sciences. HASS research impacts how we live, how we learn and how we see ourselves, and research institutions should encourage and enable their HASS research communities to increase the prevalence of open access research outputs. Six experienced HASS researchers at a single academic institution in Perth, Australia, were interviewed to explore their perceptions and experiences of open access, and any barriers that they had encountered. Thematic analysis was used to code the transcribed interviews, and generate themes. This study found a wide variance in the adoption of open access practices among HASS researchers. Some participants are publishing via APC-based gold open access (in DOAJ listed journals), while other participants encounter multiple barriers to sharing more of their work as open access. Confusion about aspects of open access is evident. Even among participants who support open access, some have had poor experiences of open access publishing. This research also found that some participants hold extremely complex opinions on open access, which directly influence participants’ behaviour depending on which perspective they are considering. These perspectives are: research supervisor, editorial role at journal, funding assessor and global citizen. Within HASS a diversity of behaviours exists around open access, and research institutions need to tailor their research support services around open access and scholarly publishing for different communities of researchers.
Highlights
The adoption of open access in the humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) has been lower than in most of the natural sciences (Severin et al, 2020, pp. 7, 14,15), despite the known benefits such as the potential for higher download numbers and higher citations (Piwowar et al, 2018, p. 1)
The perceptions and experiences of publishing journal articles as open access varied among participants. They ranged from positive perceptions due to reaping the benefits of publishing in Article Processing Charge (APC)-based gold journals listed in The Directory of Open Access Journals, to negative perceptions caused by confusion around open access concepts
The complex perceptions of open access expressed by some participants shows that for some researchers, supporting open access is not straightforward
Summary
The adoption of open access in the humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) has been lower than in most of the natural sciences (Severin et al, 2020, pp. 7, 14 ,15), despite the known benefits such as the potential for higher download numbers and higher citations (Piwowar et al, 2018, p. 1). Many support the idea of open access, but do not all share their work as open access Barriers to increasing open access specific to HASS researchers have been noted, such as fears that research would be remixed due to less restrictive licensing in open access The sharing of research outputs is part of the system of scholarly communication. Open access to research outputs means they can be read by all, rather than just by institutions who can afford to pay journal subscriptions. HASS research impacts how we live, how we learn and how we see ourselves, and it is essential for libraries to assist their HASS communities in encouraging, enabling and increasing open access.
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