Towards an Open Book navigator service „...but no one could answer a PhD student who wanted to know how you knew where to publish.” Towards an Open Book navigator service Erzsébet Tóth-Czifra (and Andrea Bertino) Shaping New Ways to Open the Book workshop Marseille, 02.06.2019
“I went to a 'publishing in the humanities' day and the panel of academics were very keen on saying that they didn't rely on impact factors but no one could answer a PhD student in the audience who wanted to know how you knew where to publish apart from 'you just find out’.” https://twitter.com/EBNunn/status/1105510646102278150
How can scholars identify suitable publication services and opportune venues for the publication of their books?
Stakes are much higher than in article pulishing It is getting complicated (luckily) Innovation changing roles and structures Prestige economy New players, new business models, new forms of collaboration Novel approaches to writing, publication and reading process reassessment of what publication means for humanities scholars Stakes are much higher than in article pulishing Fragmented landscape difficult to have an overview Multilingualism ???
The concept of the Open Book Navigator service developing a set of guiding criteria for the selection of a publisher or a service provider The concept of the Open Book Navigator service Our ambition is to develop a publisher selector service that informs book authors of all available publishing resources and help to choose the best venue for their work. Developing a set of guiding criteria for the selection of a publisher or a service provider Helping the faculty better understand their options and the whole processes, from submission to effective dissemination. Increasing overall transparency of publsihing system (with particular regard to OA books)
Values Equal representation for smaller and bigger players. Opening windows on the black box of publishing. Enabling scholars to: better connect with service providers better understand their options, the policy landscape and the full process, to critically reflect on their options vs. needs, think strategic, and have a greater say in shaping the publication landscape.
, the ability to add primary source material and datasets Challenging the idea of a single local context New forms of scholarship: how to align the monograph with the increasingly digital workflows? National, institutional contexts Disciplinary context, community of practices, expectations Language? What are my own expectations towards a book? How I want my readers to interact with it? Quality assessment criteria? Can I add source material and datasets? ???
...how about your views and needs? What are your expectations expectations towards a book as an author, a future author and a reader? How do you find suitable publication services and opportune venues for the publication of your books? What are the specific criteria (needs, requirements) when selecting a publication service for your work? Can you imagine other forms of scholarly communication which could be alternative to the traditional forms of book publications?
Possible technical realizations Sources The Open Book Navigator Target Basic metadata (publisher-level) Contact, community outreach, exchange Scholars, librarians Enrichments (relevant to the selection criteria, e.g. funding information) Additional information about publishers (metadata enrichments)
Possible technical realizations The Data Deposit Recommendation Service https://ddrs-dev.dariah.eu/ddrs/about The CLARIN-DARIAH DH Course registry: https://registries.clarin-dariah.eu/courses/
(All) Open issues Possible synergy and collaboration with other Open Access Book monitoring/administration/discovery projects. Whether book authors can see the value in such support service. Design should be built on assessment and consultation with scholars, publishers and service providers. Same is true for establishing the most appropriate funding and project framework.
Thank you for your attention ! Contact: erzsebet.toth-czifra@dariah.eu @etothczifra