What if they threw a party and none of us came?

Academic publishing is changing. Has to, because the old model of academic publishing is sadly outmoded. As Brian Lamb said recently at the Open Educational Resources Symposium, it seems perverse to hoard knowledge in any form, particularly in the light of the current economic crisis. Why should knowledge be a commodity? Why should publishers charge so much money for access to important ideas, new findings and vital knowledge that can make the difference in people's lives? Before anyone points out the fact that paper based journals cost money to produce, edit, review, print and distribute, I want to make the following points: Most academic journals are run by academics on a voluntary basis - those who review for my journal don't get paid a penny. They receive a free subscription to the journal, (and of course the kudos of working on a journal run by me - priceless!) but that's their lot. The real costs come in the production of the paper version. What if the publishers all went over to solely online publishing? How much could costs be reduced then?

Some publishers, particularly those running open access journals, are reversing the business model - and offering all contents free to any reader online, whilst the authors pay to have their work published. This model has come in for some criticism of course, because there is then great pressure on the editors to publish as many submissions as they can, so the journal can optimise its revenue stream. This criticism has been countered by said journals imposing more rigorous peer reviews. One of my recent open access journal articles (which I did not pay to have published btw) was peer reviewed by no less that 5 experts for the excellent journal Future Internet. Other business models involve advertising and/or sponsorship. Some, such as the highly successful International Review of Research in Open and Distance Education (IRRODL) and the Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) are supported by parent institutions or organisations (as is the case with EURODL - the European Online Open Distance Learning Journal run by EDEN).

Whichever way we go to ensure academic publishing is economically sustainable, there is a growing movement to ditch traditional publishing because it is prohibitive, discriminatory and increasingly outmoded. Many of my academic colleagues are now refusing to publish in standard publications, preferring to throw their lot in with the open access journals.

Some are turning their back completely on the hard nosed, monetizing operation that is global publishing, and are instead using free tools such as blogs and other social media services to publish their work. They argue that they can reach a larger audience more quickly, and in a more interest driven and user-centric manner. There is no waiting for peer review, no publishing contracts to sign, and no production fees to pay. They argue that peer review comes later - and in a continual stream. Rather than as a barrier to overcome, peer review through comments and feedback directly to the author, becomes more open, honest and accessible for all to read and learn from. I can see their point, as increasingly, I am publishing my ideas and research up here on this blog, so everyone can see it and access it freely, rather than waiting for it to be published in a reputable peer reviewed journal a year or so down the road, when it is out of date. I agree with Brian Lamb that we should not hoard knowledge, nor should we restrict it, by charging others for the priviledge of reading it. Further, academics should not be constrained by the old economic models of publishing that still prevail. We should make our knowledge freely available to anyone who wants to read it using free and open services. That is the 'prime directive' of the open access, open educational resources movement. The powers that be don't like it, and neither I assume, will the publishers if everyone starts doing it. What if they threw a party and none of us came?

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What if they threw a party by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.