A blog dedicated to present a critical view of open access recently questioned the role played by the scientific dissemination of the SciELO and Redalyc databases (available at: <http://scholarlyoa.com/2015/07/30/is-scielo-a-publication-favela>), both from Latin America. This same blog had already caused some controversy when it indicated a list of predatory publishers, companies that exploit the scientific publication market, and promoted a model in which authors pay to guarantee open access for readers (available at: <http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers>). Regardless of whether the harsh criticism has (or does not have) some foundation, in fact the blog promotes a negative agenda for an emerging topic, and unfortunately confuses rather than throw light on the discussion. The simple fact of SciELO and predatory publishers practicing some type of "open access" and, therefore, being used as examples of the "problem" already shows how complex is this concept and its implications.
"Open access" is not just limited to the world of scientific publications (see the example of free software), it covers both economic (capital) as well as ideological (freedom) aspects. Without wishing to belittle the weight and relevance of these aspects, it is also important to promote discussion about management (business models) related to open access in scientific publications.
Indeed, what is currently identifiable as being "open access" in scientific publications is a business model that does not require the reader to pay to read a scientific article. This model emerges in an environment dominated by one in which the author is not the one who pays. But this is certainly not a game involving just authors and readers. Teaching and research institutions and scientific agencies, for example, usually pay to keep access open for both sides. Some of the large publishing houses, which traditionally defended non-open access to readers, are now arguing that they intend practicing (or already practice) the open access model for readers as long as "someone else" pays.
Regardless of who pays, the fact is that maintaining a quality scientific publication process implies significant costs. For Brazilian journals that compulsorily must adhere to the open access model for readers, the discussion is even more complicated, particularly in academic communities in which alternatives for charging authors are not well accepted. So most of the time, it is a teaching or research institution that ends up paying, because there are few remaining alternatives for covering these costs. As there is no direct financial return, what these institutions intend to invest in journals does not generally cover what is required for maintaining the quality standard that is demanded to place them on an equal footing with those international journals that are associated with the major commercial publishing houses.
A few alternatives are left to us in this scenario. One of them, which is vigorously defended by the previously mentioned blog, is that we must hand our journals over to the major publishing houses because they are the only ones with the structure required for guaranteeing the quality necessary for disseminating scientific knowledge. In this case we would obviously undergo a drastic reduction in the number of journals in Brazil, a situation that is defended by some in our circle. Another alternative would be to change the policy involving scientific agencies financing strategy, which spend a considerable amount paying databases that include journals not always of interest to our community. Another alternative was put forward in an interview given by one of the founders of SciELO, in which he states: "SciELO will have to become an effective publisher" (available at: <http://blog.scielo.org/blog/2013/07/15/entrevista-rogerio-meneghini>). In this case, perhaps, we would have a Brazilian publisher with a structure capable of competing with international publishers. It is important to note that these alternatives are not self-excluding.
Over and above the economic and ideological discussion and the regional characteristics of the scientific publication market, we must emphasize that production and consequently scientific publication need to advance on new fronts. At a time when there is so much discussion about business models being 'tuned-in' to the new age of pervasive digital access, the debate about topics like co-creation, the multisided market and the shared economy, for example, could also contribute towards helping us understand better the open access models in scientific journals. Researchers in the business and management field have certainly here a good topic to explore.
In this fifth edition we have nine previously original papers. "Implementation of Green IT in organizations: a structurational view" studies the implementation dynamics of green IT. "Impact of the social distance on the transgressions between companies and consumers" contributes to our understanding of this relationship. "ODL resource management: how to adapt the technologies to the assimilation profiles" analyzes learning based on different types of distance education technology. "Reassembling the actor-network in the deployment of a health information system" investigates the behavior of those involved in the introduction process of an information system in a public hospital, based on the Player-Network Theory. "Determinants of the success of global and local brands in Latin America" deals with the success of global and local brands by categorizing products. "Evaluating the efficiency progress with technology in a Spanish hotel chain" looks at how efficient the productivity of hotel chains was in Spain during the crisis period. "Collaborative methods in supply chain management: implementation challenges" shows how these methods have an influence on the competitiveness of companies. "Investigation proposal on software as a tool for innovation in service" examines the impact of innovation in the industry caused by IT and communication. "Cross-country study on the determinants of bank financial distress" researches banking failures in international blocks, such as NAFTA and the European Union.
Completing this edition are the book review of the book Sete pecados capitais nas organizações and book recommendations relating to quantitative data and behavioral economics.
I hope you all enjoy reading our journal!
EDUARDO DINIZ | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
Sep-Oct 2015
