Access is Fundamental to Scholarship
"This project is an admirable response to the current crisis in scholarly publishing and to the rapid shift from print media to electronic media."
J. Hillis Miller, UC Irvine
In recent years, the price of journal subscriptions has skyrocketed while humanities book lists have dwindled. As a result, researchers at all but a few institutions are finding it increasingly difficult to get hold of the materials they need to participate in the scholarly dialogue.
Open access (OA) publishing has sprung up in direct response to this crisis. The basic idea is simple: making peer-reviewed literature permanently available, free of charge and freely redistributable by taking advantage of the low cost and wide access of internet distribution.
People's general fear is that standards will suffer, but this is clearly unfounded. Academic quality is ensured through peer-review. Distribution is an entirely independent issue. Requiring that every article be printed on paper is not just unnecessary, it's unsustainable.
Unimpeded communication between researchers is fundamental to rigorous scholarship. We all gain from the wider readership and greater impact our work has if it is freely available to anyone who is interested. After all, the exchange of ideas is at the heart of our what we do.
Beyond The Institutional E-Press
A number of forward-looking presses and libraries have begun rethinking the university press model in light of digital distribution. Naturally, we are supportive of and excited by these institutional initiatives, but they often include institutional goals that may be ancillary to open access and, indeed, to scholarship.
After looking at the various efforts underway, we concluded that an editorially-driven international press, focused on building respect through its brand, is what is required to tackle the digital 'credibility' problem. With OHP, we aim to emulate the strengths and flexibility of commercial presses, while avoiding the institutional limitations of the university-based e-presses.
Principles
Access
OHP is fully committed to Open Access as it was originally conceived by the founders of the Open Access movement: to maximize the free exchange of scholarly knowledge.
Scholarship
All OHP publications are fully and rigorously peer reviewed. Journals affiliated with OHP are evaluated by OHP's editorial oversight group for scholarly excellence, editorial calibre and relevance to OHP's intellectual mission. Each OHP book series has independent review processes. Proposals for new book series are approved by members of OHP's Editorial Board.
Diversity
A diversity of critical approaches and voices is central to OHP's mission to foster leading research in the humanities. OHP aims to be internationally diverse in its content, editorial process and, as an open access publisher, makes its scholarly literature freely available to anyone with an internet connection around the world.
Transparency
We are committed to transparency. Our editorial policies are clear and publicly available. We welcome enquiries about our journal selection process and various book series.
Goals
A grassroots response to the crisis in scholarly publishing in the humanities, Open Humanities Press is an international open access publishing collective whose mission is to make leading works of contemporary critical thought freely available worldwide.
- Advocate Open Access in the Humanities
- Foster Community
- Promote Intellectual Diversity
- Improve the Experience of Academic Publishing
- Explore New Forms of Scholarly Collaboration
