1. Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007 hprints: an Open Access e-print repository for arts and humanities Bertil F. Dorch, hprints project P.I. The Royal Library / Copenhagen University Library

2. Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007 Content Quality of arts and humanities research Publication patterns and visibility Open Access The hprints Nordbib project Human imprint leaving a mark

3. Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007 Disclaimer and note of caution I am not a scholar of the humanities…  this presentation is a biased physicist’s impression! Something completely different

4. Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007 Quality of arts & humanities (A&H) No doubt the standard of A&H research is high  various rankings Nordic universities are in Top-100 in the world: Copenhagen, Uppsala, Helsinki, Lund (cf. rankings by THES, Leiden, Shanghai etc.) THES Arts & Humanities (October 2006) The Faculty of Humanities (Copenhagen University) is no. 1 in the Nordic countries, 9th in Europe and 26th on Earth The Danish Research Council for the Humanities 100 MDDK for research (November 2007), but the council could easily have doubled that amount without compromising quality, according to chairman (total applications amounting to > 650 MDDK)  Qualitative conclusion A&HR are generally of high “quality” (and/or relevance)

5. Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007 Publication patterns and visibility Inferred problem: Publication patterns differ from STM Example, The Faculty of Humanities (Copenhagen University) Book chapters (44%), journal articles (38%), books (6%) Peer review fraction is only 10% (cf. Faurbæk 2007)  Quality is sometimes cast in doubt, relative to STM (many refereed articles) → Traditional bibliometry (citation analysis) is a problem E.g. internationally highly estimated researchers score h ~ 1 or less (!!) in ISI’s Web of Science, A&HCI (cf. Faurbæk 2007)  Nordic A&H research output is poorly covered, at ~ 13% (cf. D’ARC, 1999) (due to language bias, low/no impact factors, missing peer review etc.)  Traditional research assessment is a “problem” In 2008 10% of the research funding of the Faculty of Humanities by Copenhagen University will be based on “international quality based principles” → special A&H indictors need to be developed (= i.e. local, not an international model – relevant initiatives are HERA and ERIH which both yield greater visibility of publication patterns)

6. Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007 Open Access Some recommendations for A&H The Danish Research Council for the Humanities (2005): The challenges include increased dialogue and outreach to society  requires Open Access Faurbæk (2007): Increase visibility of A&H research e.g. through increased use of new publication channels, more peer review and by implementing repositories and Open Access Theme: Greater visibility comes a greater demand for access… Open Access in arts and humanities has no history (yet) No existing international subject repositories for A&H (efforts are scattered and largely institutional, i.e. not international, barely national) Potential problems identified: Traditions (the persistance of paper), worries about quality, profit loss for authors and publishers etc. Outlook at a possible Open Access future of A&H  More readings & citations (changed pattern), and improved impact on society  Present and future social networks will require Open Access to research  Open Access repositories creates a possibility for “overlay journals” to arise

7. Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007 The hprints Nordbib project (1/2) Basic idea and inspiration University libraries could offer an Open Access infrastructure by supplying a subject repository for humanities research … The inspiration is arXiv.org: Since 1991 an integrated part of the research process and publication pattern of several natural science subjects  nearly complete Open Access through researcher self-archiving, with no quality problems (author bias), no copyright law suits and no journal cancellations ! Important issues when considering building a repository Potential problems: Sustainability, critical mass and community reception Necessary functions: Fulltext, Open Access, grass root possibility for deposit and download, and … an easy access user interface The hprints consortium www.hprints.org early 2007 Copenhagen University (Faculty of Humanities), Lund University Libraries, Oslo University, Museum Tusculanum Press, The Royal Library

8. Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007 The h-prints Nordbib project (2/2) The hprints Nordbib project Funding by Nordbib (May 2007) for 1 year “An e-print archive for Nordic arts and humanities” launch spring 2008 Main goals 1.Proof of concept OA A&H e-print archive 2.Operational technical infrastructure facilitating OA to Nordic A&H 3.A policy for an OA research e-print archive 4.A Nordic knowledge network for OA e-print archives Accomplished and future milestones Workshop 1 (June 2007): Policy and technical requirements Workshop 2 (August 2007): Discussion of repository system alternatives Advisory Board meeting (October 2007): Choice of repository Work in progress: Communication strategy and agreement with repository Repository choice → HAL portal: The french analogue to arXiv since 2000 (CCSd/CNRS) solves several problems – it’s a fully operational fulltext archive and it’s populated in plenty !