Open access has been a hot topic of late. Our friends over at The Scholarly Kitchen brought this interesting information to us in their article, “Editorial Independence and Journal Ownership in the Age of Open Science.”
The recent announcement from the editorial board for the Journal of Informetrics (JOI) has led to yet more discussion about open access. Was this action just about open access, or are there bigger issues at play here?
Journal editors often sit at the intersection of research and academic publishing, and have to navigate differing perceptions of ownership in the journals that they manage.
Ownership is always at play, but very clearly key to this situation. As JOI exists in the same industry as Learned Publishing, they felt that this raised a hugely important question of ownership. Beyond the legal copyright and intellectual property issues, this also raises moral questions, challenging the notion what rights should be held by the authors and editors of academic journals, as well as by academia at large.
Who owns your journal and its content?
Melody K. Smith
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