Open access journals: A sustainable and scalable solution in social and political sciences?

Abstract

Openness is central to scientific enquiry and can enable faster and more effective return on investment in research. Open access is linked to innovation in research communication and can help increase the reliability and reproducibility of published research. Growth of open access journal publishing in the social sciences and humanities is second only to life sciences. Surveys show researchers are interested in open access publishing, but some researchers perceive that there is a lack of quality journals offering open access. However, a number of established publishers have recently launched fully open access journals for political and social scientists, such as Palgrave Communications and Research & Politics. Open access journals often operate an article processing charge (APC) or 'author pays' business model, to support making articles freely available without charging readers. The APC model could provide financial benefits to society in the long term, but can present challenges for researchers without access to grant funding in the short term.