Flipping Journals to Open Access Issues and Experiences David J Solomon, PhD Professor Emeritus College of Human Medicine Michigan State University

Topics  Pressure on publishers to flip their journals to OA  Securing the necessary resources  Transitioning from a subscription to a OA business model  Special considerations for societies  Roles the library can play Every journal and situation is different!

Pressure to flip from all sides  Pressure from above  Pressure from below  Pressure from outside  Pressure from inside

National Guidelines for OA in Norway The working group recommends introducing an incentive multiplier to the Norwegian Publication Indicator for articles published open access.

Norwegian National OA Guidelines  Publically funded researchers shall select as their first choice to publish their research articles in open access journals (so called Gold Open Access).  Researchers who choose to publish in subscription-based journals shall make the article openly available in an institutional repository (so called Green Open Access). The article should become openly available maximum 6 months after publication for STM subjects (science, technology and medicine), and 12 months for the humanities and social sciences, in line with the EU Commission’s recommendations. All institutions conducting research shall ensure that their research articles are deposited in a suitable repository at the latest by the date of publication, independent of publication channel and of whether it is possible to make them publically available. Only articles thus deposited may be candidates in the performance based funding system.  Institutions and consortia that negotiate agreements with publishers for the purchase of electronic publications shall ensure that the agreements include measures that:  Allow open access  Are transparent with regard to terms and conditions  Ensure that the transition to open access is budget neutral and does not result in increased costs  Publically funded institutions shall contribute to the funding of open access publishing. Private and charitably funded organisations which fund research are encouraged to do the same.  All institutions that conduct and fund research shall establish or revise their own guidelines for open access in line with the national guidelines.  All institutions that conduct research shall create the necessary infrastructure and administrative routines that make it possible for researchers to easily adhere to the guidelines.

Financial propensity to flip  There are subscription journals that are financially more viable as OA journals  There are subscription journals that are so lucrative they are going to be almost impossible to flip  Most journals fall somewhere in between

Securing Resources  Publishing a journal is a open- ended commitment  Publishing requires resources but not necessarily a lot of money  Using volunteer effort can substantially reduce costs but carries some risk

Daught, Gary (June). “New Theology Review Goes Open Access with the Library as Publisher.” Omega Alpha Open Access (blog). review-goes-open-access-with-the-library-as-publisher/. review-goes-open-access-with-the-library-as-publisher

Open Medicine operated for seven years, largely via the editorial board’s volunteer labor, with considerable support from the Public Knowledge Project. In the words of the editor: “While inspiring, the process was also chronically frustrating. Despite everyone's best intentions, it was challenging for a small team to keep stoking the interest and engagement of the general academic community, and it was difficult to recruit members to our editorial board and board of directors who could provide the kind of hands-on involvement that our small but ambitious operation required.” The Canadian Press (November).“Canadian medical journal, Open Medicine, Stops Publishing.” medicine-stops-publishing medicine-stops-publishing

The flipping process  It is a process!!  Inform and negotiate with your stakeholders  Subscriber negotiations  Managing authors in process  Informing future authors, libraries and readers  What to do about back issues, informing past authors, licensing issues etc.  Flip at the beginning of a volume understanding there will be some overlap  Plan for transition costs in implementing the new OA business model Meadows, Alice (March). “Flipping, not Flopping: Converting Subscription Journals to Open Access.” The Scholarly Kitchen (blog). open-access/ open-access/. Jones, Jackie (October). “Jackie Jones on When to Flip Your Journal Revenue Model to Open Access.” Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) International Conference 2014 video, 14:

Special issues for societies  The vast majority (97%) of societies own 3 or less journals and often lack expertise in publishing 1  Journal subscriptions are a membership perk in many societies  Communication and discussion with the membership about the trade offs is essential Crow, R (September). “Publishing Cooperatives: An Alternative for Non–profit Publishers.” First Monday 11(9).

Roles Libraries can play  Advocacy and information  Library publishing offices  Supporting alternate models such as SCOAP3 and the Open Library of the Humanities  Total cost subscription/OA publication agreements