Transformation and no end in sight! Today's library newsletter, the first in over a year, is all about transformation. But not the social transformation after 1989/90 that many of you here at the institute are mainly concerned with. We are concerned with the transformation that has been gradually influencing your academic reception and publication process for almost 15 years and is now changing it permanently, not least due to political will and pressure: We are, of course, talking about the transformation in academic publishing towards open access!
But now: Ready! Steady! Transformation!
1. We want to start with a journal title that is familiar to many of you: "Totalitarismus und Demokratie: Zeitschrift für internationale Diktatur- und Freiheitsforschung", the journal of the Hannah Arendt Institute at TU Dresden, which has been published in open access (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) since the 14th volume in 2017. However, the ZZF library continues to hold the title in print under the shelfmark Z 461, as it is sent to us as part of a publication exchange.
2. Comparative Southeast European studies (former title: Südosteuropa): The journal of the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies Regensburg is now also published in open access (de Gruyter). In this case, the ZZF library has terminated the subscription to the print edition.
3. European history yearbook (former title: Jahrbuch für Europäische Geschichte): The Leibniz Institute of European History has also been publishing its journal/yearbook in open access (de Gruyter) since 2014. Here you have to scroll down a little further to see the latest publications in the volume list!
4. We only recently found this open access journal and it should be of particular interest to colleagues in Department III: Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft (transcript).
5. The following journal title is also likely to be of particular relevance to the "Media and Information Society" department: Pop : Kultur und Kritik (transcript). The speciality: In this case, it is not an OA title at all! The journal is part of a national licence that we have concluded for you.
6. The "Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften : ÖZG" (University of Vienna, Faculty of History and Cultural Studies) has been published entirely in open access since 2020. The archive is currently still under development, but is already almost complete. The print edition of the ZZF library has been cancelled.
7. We have recently obtained digital access to the following title and do not want to withhold it from you: Arbeit, Bewegung, Geschichte : Zeitschrift für historische Studien (Metropol). This is a single user licence, though, - the password can be obtained from the library staff. The print edition is still available from the library. The predecessor, the "JahrBuch für Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung : JBzG", can be accessed completely via the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung website.
8. We are particularly proud of "International Public History"! SIt is published "only" as a hybrid open access journal and is the first purely digital journal to which the ZZF library has subscribed, starting with the 2022 volume. In this case, hybrid does not mean, as in the case of "Zeithistorischen Forschungen", that there is also a paid print edition in addition to the open access version, but that it is only immediately accessible free of charge in parts and that certain content still must be subscribed to/licensed.
9. The following title should also be of explicit interest to public historians at the institute: "Public history weekly" (de Gruyter). The online magazine, which is an "open peer review journal" or "international BlogJournal", is published weekly on Thursdays at 8 a.m. with a new initial article.
10. The Herder Institute's "Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung : ZfO" (former title: Zeitschrift für Ostforschung) has also switched completely to open access. The volumes are available online from volume 1.1952 onwards. The print edition has been cancelled by the library.
11. We would now like to draw your attention to two publications from the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück: Firstly, there are the IMIS-Beiträge, the archive of which is freely available online from volume 1.1995 onwards and is probably already familiar to some of you. For many of you, however, the "Zeitschrift für Migrationsforschung" , which has been designed as an open access journal since 2021, may be new. The journal, which is published twice a year, offers a forum for the academic examination of the background and conditions of spatial movements of people in the past and present as well as social change brought about by migration processes in contexts of origin, transit and destination. The contributions present new research findings from various disciplines and fields of research, discuss concepts or formulate theoretical propositions. All contributions undergo a peer review process for quality assurance.
12. Last but not least, we have something very special for you in the area of theory/methods/didactics: an open access publication series. The "Studies in digital history and hermeneutics" (de Gruyter) edited, among others, by our colleague Andreas Fickers at the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) at the University of Luxembourg. In 6 volumes that have already been published or are due to be published this year, it brings together key questions for historians in the digital age:
- How do digital infrastructures and technologies intervene in our practices of thinking, acting and telling history?
- What are the methodological and epistemological implications of the use of digital data and tools for historical interpretation and argumentation?
- What new historical questions can be asked when researching the big data of the past?
By providing a platform for cutting-edge research in the emerging field of digital history and hermeneutics, the series aims to make a critical intervention in the field of digital humanities and introduce key debates and concepts in digital history to the historical community at large.
With the literature offers listed above, we would like to provide you with an overview of the changes we have observed during the last months with regard to digital publishing and how these have affected our holdings, based on some of the journals, platforms, publishers, etc. that are very relevant to contemporary history. The following generally applies:
- If something is published in open access, we will not also purchase it in print for a fee.
- In addition, the list is of course only a selection of the sheer exploding number of OA publications and platforms.
- Even if, for the sake of simplicity, the links lead directly to the publisher or platform pages of the publications, you will of course find a record of the digital publications in our catalogue, with all the added value that such a catalogue record offers: Publication history of the title, ZZF library holdings information, access rights, etc.
- Open Access also means that you are not obliged to access the titles within the ZZF's IP range. The requirement to be physically located on the Potsdam premises or to be virtually connected to the institute via VPN client does not apply in this case.
- If it is not a genuine OA title but, for example, online access as part of a larger licence package, subscription, etc., we have indicated this. In this case, transformation also means a move towards digital publishing and reception, even beyond open access.
- And: Our aim with this overview is not to introduce you to the profile of the individual, primarily periodical publication organs, as they are often well known. Rather, we hope to create, with the one or the other, an effect á la: Ahh, oh well, they are now also doing open access!
That's all for now. You are also welcome to tell us about other freely accessible or open access-licensed titles.
Have fun with your research
the ZZF library team
(27.09.2022)