Support community led open access publishing: Help shape the future of scholarly communications. Thursday 26 October 2023.

1. Community-led
OA Publishing
Jisc Webinar, 26 October 2023
Dr Caroline Edwards
Executive Director, Open Library of
Humanities

5. Rights retention: the next step
• How can academic communities retain full intellectual rights to their
journals?
• What happens if the publisher owns the journal’s IP?
• How do editors regain control over their research and academic
labour?
Why does this
matter?

6. Zombie
journal.
An academic journal published by a
commercial publisher that has lost
the respect and support of its
scholarly community. Zombie
journals are formed when editorial
boards resign en masse from
running an academic journal in
response to the anti-intellectual
and commercial practices of the
publisher. Such resignations are
usually accompanied by public
announcements urging scholars to
withdraw their labour from the
journal by refusing to submit new
articles, accept invitations to peer
review, or replace the original
editorial board. This is often
followed by the launch of a new
open access journal to which the
academic community migrates,
leaving behind the undead zombie
title, a husk of its former self, and
emblem of the acquisitive motives

7. Community governance
Moving a journal from a legacy publisher to a community-owned
organisation requires commitment and perseverance.
How can we protect against commercial acquisition in the future?
• Full support from the editorial team
and advisory board
• Widespread support from authors
who have submitted articles
• Widespread support from the
academic field
• Social media campaign to raise
awareness of the situation
• A community-governed solution and
open source publishing
infrastructure
• Commitment – it takes years to
build a new journal title & impact
factor

8. Issues & challenges
Reaching decision makers.
Many editors aren’t decision makers and report to steering
committees or society governance structures.
Journal ownership.
Many journals don’t own their IP. Flipping involves setting up a
new title, establishing authenticity, persuading editors
to quit the zombie journal.
Migrating back content.
Journal archives are often only available
in proprietary formats, which require
coding work to access.
Managing academic expectations.
Years of commercial provision means
editors expect some customer
services that not-for-profits cannot