Open Access Publishing in the Social Sciences and Humanities in Canada

Abstract

The publishing practices of scientists and academics have profound effects on the way that science and academia internally progress and influence external public debates. The culmination of empirical, theoretical, and reflexive work provides the foundation of an academic discipline. Those who are able to access this stock of work may come to do something with it, such as contribute to the discipline or apply these disciplinary-based insights to some applied problem. Contemporary digital networks enable information to flow freely, enabling interested people to become knowledgeable about some particular subject. Peer-review is a basic component of the information that is published under the auspices of science, social science, or the humanities. Such standards of peer-review are considerably less strenuous in popular publications, thus providing a rationale for the higher quality of scientific and scholarly research articles. However under the current system, research articles that abide by standards of peer-review, are, by and large, accessible only to those with university library credentials or with a personal subscription. Personal subscriptions to scientific periodicals are often too expensive, even according to the academics who need them, and a majority of individuals do not have access to a university library. Thus, many interested readers of recently published work in the sciences and humanities are effectively excluded from accessing such information.