Abstract
This article provides an analysis of open access (OA) publishing in translation studies for the 1961-2015 period. To this end, we have taken advantage of the translation-studies (TS) bibliographical database BITRA, which comprised over 75,000 entries as of December 2018, over 21,000 of which had been labelled as OA. The main bibliometric factors we examined from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives were the global status of OA, publication format, language, topic, kind of publisher and types of websites hosting OA publications, while also providing an estimation of how these factors predict OA. The results indicate that we are increasingly witnessing a balance between open and toll access due to the dramatic growth of OA in TS. We have also found that OA is still on the increase in TS, although with some notable variations within each of the categories under analysis.
Highlights
A spectre is haunting academia – the spectre of Open Access (OA)
15% of the documents published in the pre-WWW period have later been re-issued in open access (χ2 [1] = 8995.6, p < 0.001, W = 0.701)
Regarding our two first research questions, we can start by stating that the evolution of Open Access has been remarkable in Translation Studies (TS), with a sustained growth from 18.0% in 1996-2000 to 46.6% in 2011-2015, almost reaching a balance with toll-access publication
Summary
A spectre is haunting academia – the spectre of Open Access (OA). Promoters of free access to science are working hard towards a goal that for the first time in history seems feasible in terms of both availability and cost. More and more governments demand publicly funded research to be disseminated in OA. Commercial publishers try to adapt to the times and argue that the rigorous dissemination of science can hardly be provided by freelancers and part-time publishers without the necessary funds and know-how, while declaring their own willingness to provide open-access science - at a cost. Reckless adventurers under the guise of predatory journals take advantage of anxiousto-publish academics and provide unfiltered science, for a profit. As far as we know, the debate about the advantages and drawbacks of open access within Translation Studies (TS) has not started yet.
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