Photo: KB, Den Haag.
Knowledge Exchange and small publishers: this open access report maintains ‘bibliodiversity’
The international Knowledge Exchange partnership, in which SURF also participates, explores these and related questions in the recently published report ‘Small European Publishers and the Transition to Open Access Publishing’. The study is based on the earlier report ‘Landscape Study of Small Journal Publishers’ and is the result of a project that examined the transition of small publishers to open access.
Coordinated support is needed
Publishers interviewed see significant benefits in the transition to open access publishing models, such as increased visibility. They also feel a strong ethical commitment to the principles of open access. However, disadvantages include significant barriers and concerns. The study shows that small academic publishers face structural inequalities that can only be overcome with coordinated support from funders, libraries, consortia, policy makers, and universities.
A level playing field
The report includes detailed recommendations for further action. Small publishers—whether commercial or non-profit—need stable funding from a mix of sources, shared infrastructure, peer networks, and policy recognition to maintain their role in “bibliodiversity” and play a full role in open science.
Stakeholders – funders, consortia, libraries, universities, and policy makers – must redistribute resources to create a level playing field, the report states. Furthermore, disparities in scale must be addressed. Through technical or policy reforms and a reorientation of incentives, recognition, and accountability within the scholarly ecosystem. Scale inequalities cannot be resolved by small players alone.
Preservation of diversity
The report concludes that the following is needed to rebalance the system: reorient funding streams, reduce administrative burdens, ensure fair competition, and create collective infrastructures. These actions together promote the preservation of diversity in scientific publications and the development of a decentralized publishing landscape tailored to the needs of researchers across disciplines, research areas, and scientific cultures.