Open Access and the SBL

Carl Kinbar
ABD University of South Africa The move toward Open Access ournals is ar!uably one of the most important trends in academia today" #t is motivated by the desire to ma$e scholarship available to as broad a constituency as possible% especially where library bud!ets are increasin! strained and to scholars in the developin! world" As a lar!e and influential body of scholars% SBL members are uni&uely positioned to participate in this crucial endeavor" 'ost of the OA discussion has focused on science ournals% which are !enerally very e(pensive )and !ettin! more so* and therefore difficult for libraries% especially in the third world% to subscribe to% especially in their online versions" #n addition% even online access does not always translate to free distribution" +i!htly understood% copyri!ht law severely restricts reproduction of ournal articles unless some form of Open Access is overtly stated online" One response to this situation has been the ,ublic Library of Science ),LoS*% founded in -..- as /a nonprofit or!ani0ation of scientists and physicians committed to ma$in! the world1s scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource"2 ,LoS publishes a number of peer3reviewed scientific and medical ournals that are freely available online /to read% download% copy% distribute% and use )with attribution*" " " 2 These ournals are protected under a Creative Commons license )see below*" 4ow successful has ,LoS been5 Library Journal reported% /#n its second year of publication% ,ublic Library of Science ),LoS* Biolo!y had an impact factor of 67"8% ma$in! it the hi!hest ran$ed !eneral biolo!y ournal in the world% and five OA ournals from Bio'ed Central ran$ed in the top five ournals in their specialties" These successes are bac$ed by research showin! that OA articles !enerate between -9: and -9.: more citations than non3OA articles in the same ournal from the same year2 )#ssue of April 69% -..;*" The need for broader access e(ists in the humanities as well"6 Keepin! in mind that the scholarly community does not consist only of a small cadre of researchers in relatively wealthy universities but many thousands of institutional and independent scholars world3 wide% access to current research in the humanities is restricted by financial barriers" Access to peer3reviewed ournal articles in disciplines in which the SBL ta$es an interest is severely limited" #n the field of early <udaism% for e(ample% the online versions of even the most respected ournals that publish in the field% such as the Journal of Jewish Studies% are available to relatively few" <ewish Studies are bur!eonin! in unli$ely places" See% for e(ample% /#n China% a =rowin! #nterest in All Thin!s <ewish2 in The Chronicle of Higher Education )#ssue of Au!ust 66% -..;*% and the remar$able !rowth of academic <ewish Studies in >astern >urope" #n these re!ions% library resources are understandably limited" Open Access is the &uic$est way to ma$e humanities research available for scholars everywhere% but especially in the developin! world" 6

# would li$e to discuss two OA ournals that can serve as models of OA humanities ournals ? the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures and the Jewish Studies Internet <ournal ? and then loo$ at ways that SBL scholars can promote Open Access in their respective fields" But # would be remiss were # not to mention that our own Journal of Biblical Literature operates on a hybrid OA model" JBL has a movin! window of Open Access" Aside from the current issue% the past three years of JBL are openly available to the public in ,D@ form on the SBL website" ,revious issues% bac$ to 6AA6% are available in the <STO+ Arts and Sciences ### collection" )Be!innin! in -..B% JBL will also be available as part of the 'eta,ress online collection C free to SBL members and by subscription to nonmembers and institutions such as libraries"* Althou!h this is limited OA% it is an important step for an established and respected ournal" The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures )httpDEEwww"arts"ualberta"caE<4S* and the Jewish Studies Internet Journal )httpDEEwww"biu"ac"ilE<SE<S#<* are amon! a number of first rate% peer3review ournals that serve as e(amples of the !rowin! OA phenomenon" Journal of Hebrew Scriptures Accordin! to its founder and =eneral >ditor% >hud Ben Fvi% JHS /is based on the premise that critical% academic scholarship should be available and disseminated in a reliable form in a way that ta$es no account of the financial ability of the individual or institution desirin! to retrieve it" The ournal was established therefore to communicate% critical% academic scholarship in the relevant area free of char!e% fast% reliably available -G hours seven days a wee$ from anywhere"2 Articles are available on the ournal website and also throu!h the Hational Library of Canada" JHS articles are inde(ed in the ATLA +eli!ion Database% +A'B#% BiB#L% and T4>OLD#" Their abstracts appear in +eli!ious and Theolo!ical Abstracts" Ben Fvi is careful to !ive credit to the many individuals who volunteered the e(tensive time and effort necessary to ensure the ournalIs viability and success" >stablishin! an online% OA ournal also re&uired overcomin! perceptions in the academic world" Ben Fvi comments% /All e3 ournals in the 8.1s faced in one way or another the problem of credibility% and for some% particularly youn! scholars of the way in which publication in the ournal mi!ht come be seen by hirin! or tenure committees" Je addressed these matters by creatin! from the outset a respected editorial board and a process of blind peer review" Social and cultural chan!es durin! and since the 8.1s have eased pre3conceptions about e3 ournals and e3publication in !eneral% in most &uarters and been e(tremely helpful for the ournal"2 Li$e similar print ournals% JHS has a blind peer review system" The list of editorial board members and published articles bears out the &uality of the entire process" Until recently% JHS was published primarily throu!h the volunteer efforts mentioned above% with financial the support from the @aculty of Arts of the University of Alberta and diverse institutions within it% and the invaluable wor$ of its technical advisor% Terry Butler"

Jhile volunteer wor$ will remain a central component in the publishin! of JHS% recent !rants from the Social Sciences and 4umanities +esearch Council of Canada and the faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta will enable JHS to substantially enhance the )free* di!ital publication of the ournal" Ben Fvi and Butler will tal$ about what this enhanced di!ital publication may involve in a session at the upcomin! SBL meetin! in Jashin!ton"#n addition to its continued online Open Access% =or!ias ,ress will be publishin! a subscription hard copy version that will% of course% not be free of char!e" Jewish Studies Internet Journal JSIJ is a peer3reviewed% electronic ournal that publishes in all fields of <ewish studies" #t distributed free of char!e on the #nternet" The website states the ournals !oals as followsD /By publishin! articles electronically via the #nternet% <S#< see$s to disseminate articles much faster than is possible with paper publication% and to ma$e these articles readily and conveniently accessible to a wide variety of readers at all times"2 #n its first four issues% almost half of the articles in JSIJ have focused on early <udaism )the Tannaitic and Amoraic eras*" They have been written by si!nificant scholars in the field" JSIJ seems to have e(perienced few difficulties attractin! top scholars from the very be!innin!% perhaps because by the time it was established in -..-% perceptions of online ournals were be!innin! to chan!e" Leib 'os$ovit0 was the initiator of JSIJ% wor$in! to!ether with Kosef +ivlin% then department chair of the Talmud Department at Bar3#lan University" Alon! with other volunteer help and impressive board membership% they have overcome what can be considered typical obstacles in establishin! and runnin! a ournalD technical problems% meetin! peer review and copy editin! deadlines% and the li$e" <ournal costs have been underwritten by Bar3#lan University" JSIJ articles are inde(ed in +A'B# and their abstracts appear in +eli!ious and Theolo!ical Abstracts" JSIJ is archived on the B#U servers% which should !uarantee lon!3term access" JHS and JSIJ share many similarities" Both were conceived by an individual who elicited the help of a core !roup of fellow scholars and a lar!er circle of secondary% but still vital% volunteers" Both >hud Ben Fvi and Leib 'os$ovit0 saw Open Access as a primary characteristic of the ournals they wished to establish" Both ournals have received financial support from the university% althou!h JHS is now e(pandin! its financial base"7 Althou!h Ben Fvi and his collea!ues had to overcome early s$epticism about online ournals% both ournals eventually succeeded in attractin! si!nificant scholars on the editorial and research sides" As a more mature ournal% JHS now has a print publisher" Je should not be surprised if JSIJ appears in a print version before lon!" Avenues to Open Access

4avin! !iven this brief overview of two Open Access% online ournals% #Id li$e to step bac$ and loo$ how scholars can become involved in the Open Access movement to ma$e research more accessible to institutions and scholars that are less able% or simply unable% to pay for it" G There are two primary vehicles for deliverin! Open Access to research articles% OA ournals and OA archives" Je have already loo$ed at two e(amples of OA ournals" This literature is di!ital% online% free of char!e% and free of most copyri!ht and licensin! restrictions" OA is compatible with peer review% print% preservation% presti!e% career3 advancement% inde(in!% and other features associated with conventional scholarly literature" Because OA uses copyri!ht3holder consent% it does not re&uire the abolition% reform% or infrin!ement of copyri!ht law" Hor does it re&uire that copyri!ht holders waive their under copyri!ht law" One the other hand% an increasin!ly common way for scholars both to retain ri!hts and !ive consent for Open Access is to use one of the Creative Commons licenses" 9 #t is important to note that ournals that do not wish to convert to OA% or to provide their own OA content% can still support OA by permittin! their authors to deposit postprints of their articles in OA archives" Some journals already contractually permit scholars to ma e their articles a!ailable in a number ways" Some allow the author to retain copyri!ht ownership% if not of ournal articles than of reviews" Others re&uire the author to assi!n them full copyri!ht ownership% restrictin! author usa!e is various ways" Some ournals allow postprint archivin! on a scholar1s personal webpa!e or an institutional webpa!e" Others restrict it to a secure institutional site )i"e"% so students% but not the outside public% can access the material*" A very few allow broad postin!" Some re&uire a delay before online postin!" Some allow online viewin!% while others also allow downloadin! and printin!" >ven ournals that are otherwise hi!hly restrictive allow authors to retain /their ri!ht to reuse the material in other publications written or edited by themselves and due to be published at least one year after initial publication in the ournal"2; This is not an invitation to circumvent copyri!ht restrictions on reproducin! ournal articles% but ac$nowled!es authorsI ri!hts to use their research and ideas in new articles for open access" #t is important for SBL scholars to /read the fine print2 of the contributors policy of print ournals in which they publish to determine e(actly what the publisher allows" The bottom line is that those scholars who publish only in print ournals may still be able to ta$e advanta!e of their publisherIs policies to ma$e their research more widely available"B Althou!h a number of Open Access archives are or!ani0ed by discipline )e"!" arLiv for physics*% many universities have established archives for their own scholars" Scholars should become informed about the archival activities of their institution" These archives may be limited to eprints )electronic preprints or postprints of ournal articles* or may also include theses and dissertations% course materials% learnin! ob ects% data files% audio and video files% institutional records% or any other $ind of di!ital file" Such archives can provide OA by default to all their contents or can let authors control the de!ree of accessibility to their wor$s"

Open Access archives are economically sustainable because they are ine(pensive and easy to maintain" There are many systems of open3source software available to build and maintain them" Depositin! new articles ta$es only a few minutes% and is done by individual authors% not archive mana!ers" @inally% when universities host OA archives% they are usually committed ust as much to lon!3term preservation as to Open Access" Open Access is here to stay" #t is !rowin! in academic favor every day on every continent"A Beyond publishin! in OA ournals and depositin! research in OA archives% SBL scholars can serve on the editorial boards of OA ournals% contend for the full inclusion of peer3reviewed OA ournal articles in the tenure process% and encoura!e departmental and institutional support of OA" By ma$in! the effort to become informed about their OA options% SBL scholars will position themselves to contribute to the OA movement in si!nificant ways"

See this e(cellent overview of Open Access in the humanities by Linda 4utcheon of the University of Toronto: httpDEEopen"utoronto"caEinde("php5optionMcomNcontentOtas$MviewOidM7A8O#temidM;;
6 7

Session S3-.3;6 on 'onday afternoon% 6D.. pm ? 7D7. pm @ully online ournals may be less e(pensive% but producin! ournals in any form costs money" The cost of the ournal has been moved from subscriber to another source% thus removin! the financial barrier to access" The followin! section is adapted from ,eter SuberIs #pen $ccess #!er!iew )at

httpDEEwww"earlham"eduEPpetersEfosEoverview"htm*"

Creative Commons provides alternatives to copyri!ht% a!reements that offer a ran!e of protections and freedoms that they call a /some ri!hts reserved2 approach that improves on the access found under copyri!htIs /all ri!hts reserved"2 @or more information% !o to httpDEEcreativecommons"or!E
9

This is the policy of the Journal for the Study of the #ld Testament" See httpDEEwww"sa!epub"comE ournals,rod'anSub"nav5prod#dM<ournal-.6B9;

Some helpful su!!estions on how to ma$e your research more widely available can be found on the OhioL#HK website )httpDEEolcB"ohiolin$"eduEwhatsnewE*" See the entry for Au!ust 7.% -..;"
B

The most comprehensive study of OA publishin! is <ohn Jillins$yIs The $ccess %rinciple )'#T ,ress% -..9*" Due to the !enerosity of '#T ,ress% the boo$ is available by free download at httpsDEEmitpress"mit"eduEboo$sEwillins$yETheAccess,rincipleNThe'#T,ressN.-;--7-G-6"pdf*" @or almost daily updates on OA developments around the world% see ,eter 4uberIs weblo!% Open Access Hews )hhttpDEEwww"earlham"eduEPpetersEfosEfosblo!"html*"