A Nordic Co-Operative Solution for Scholarly Publishing

A change of paradigm is on the way in scholarly communication and research. The reasons for this development are manifold and particularly of an economical and technical character. They have created a paradoxical situation, where it has become technically less expensive to publish, but at the same time more difficult in terms of organisation and economics. Theprimary changes have happened and are still happening in connection with the development of electronic communication methods, information production, search methods and digital archival methods. The period of change is more prolonged than one might be aware of – in fact we are talking about more than 30 years – and as such is not only a result of the Internet and the advance of word-processing, but is also due to cheaper and easier transport facilities. The consequences of this shift affectmany players, such as the researcher, the research institution (the commissioner of the task), the library, the publisher and many elements like for example economics, mediation, quality assurance, access, storage, copyright and business. The change of paradigm is far-reaching and a number of initiatives at uneven levels have been launched. The national science subject areas are spearheading the development of new methods, and are also financially stronger, whereas quite a differentsituation and other conditions apply to social sciences and the humanities. This means that the need for development of compatible publishing models increases. Nordiska Publiceringsnämnden för Humanistiska och Samhällsvetenskapliga Tidskrifter (NOP-HS), Helsinki and the Danish National Library Authority have together commissioned a review whichexamines this change of paradigm within research communication and provides an overview of “state-of-the-art” for scholarly research publication. The report also provides an overview of international projects on developing models for future publishing and mediation. It concentrates particularly on publishing of periodicals in electronic form at Nordic level and specifically within the social science and humanistic subject areas, as requested by NOP-HS. The report contains:- the change of paradigm in scholarly communication and publishing- the technological development for electronic peer review and publishing- status for the Nordic area focusing particularly on social sciences and the humanities- suggestions for possible models for scholarly publishing- recommendations for Nordic co-operation projects and solution models.The report forms the basis for a Nordic conference in June 2003 in Denmark, to which will be invited a number of decisionmakerswho will discuss the suggested scenarios for Nordic co-operation. The conference wants to attract suggestions for further action towards a possible technical, economic and long-term solution in relation to future scholarly research publication in the Nordic countries. The final outcome of the conference will be published in July 2003