Abstract
This article reports on scholarly communication and open access (OA) in Korea. Drawing on a range of databases, articles, and reference sources, it provides unique insights. In contrast to the UK/US model of scholarly communication, in Korea, most scholarly journals are published by discipline‐based scholarly societies and research institutes affiliated to universities. Payment for publication is the norm, and typically features article processing charges and scholarly society membership fees for both OA and toll access (TA) journals. Online access to journals in Korea is provided by commercial vendors who enter into contracts with the scholarly societies for exclusive use. Three online access models apply – TA, gold OA, and dual access – with the use of these models varying between disciplines. In parallel with this access provided by commercial vendors, there are a number of government‐funded open access repositories (OARs) to which university researchers are requested to deposit their research outputs, as well as OARs run by universities and other research institutes.
Highlights
Open access to the findings of scholarly research is a growing international movement, grounded on the principle that publically funded research should be freely accessible online, immediately after publication
According to statistics provided in association with the Korea Citation Index (KCI), in 2016 there were around 8,600 academic organizations in Korea, of which 3,441 are scholarly societies and 5,047 are research institutions affiliated to universities
In keeping with its aspirations and investment towards the development of its research capacity, there has been considerable interest in the development of open access initiatives in South Korea over the past decade. These initiatives include those concerned with open access journal publication and with open access repositories. These developments pose some of the same challenges for Korea as they pose for western economies, in terms, for instance, of tensions regarding the role of commercial publishers and database providers, issues associated with the shifting economics of scholarly publishing, and concerns regarding intellectual property rights
Summary
Open access to the findings of scholarly research is a growing international movement, grounded on the principle that publically funded research should be freely accessible online, immediately after publication. In less developed countries, and other countries such as Korea and India that are investing in developing research cultures and expertise, it was expected to enhance access to scholarly resources, enhance research infrastructure, and facilitate an erosion of the divide between local and global journals (Mukherjee, 2014). With the exception of India and Nigeria (which use English language for some of their scholarly communication, thereby navigating any potential language barriers to more global scholarly communication), there has been very limited research into open access initiatives, policies and challenges in countries other than the UK and the US. There is evidence to suggest that research funding and infrastructure, together with scholarly communications and publishing traditions may have a significant influence on the engagement with and impact of open access initiatives. It is acknowledged that open access is a disruptive innovation (Lewis, 2012), which is likely to herald significant shifts in the ecology of scientific communication (Jubb, 2013)
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