Perspectives of the academic open access e-Book

Abstract

Reflections on changes in the book, from print to digital format, the eBook in the context of open access, the advantages and disadvantages of the book in electronic format, tools for authors to publish their own eBooks, as well as the prospects for the future of international e-Book production and uses. The study was of a descriptive exploratory nature, verified the profile of the eBook databases, available at the Capes-Brazil Portal. Among the results, 50 available eBook databases are described, classified as open or restricted access, country of origin, knowledge area and collection. For the analysis of the characteristics and quantitative data, the respective pages were consulted. It was possible to observe characteristics of the collection of academic eBooks available on the Capes portal. The sample indicates the predominance of paid access, with restricted access, mostly American commercial bases, with limited access only to the scientific community. This scenario opens motivations for various questions and possible research from various aspects. In this sense, it is necessary to reflect on the publishing market of scientific-academic books and their perspectives of access to the whole society.