Opportunities and challenges for social science journals in the Web – the case of Latin America and the

Spanish Caribbean CLACSO´s network

Dominique BabiniCLACSO

Panel: The possibilities and pitfalls of publishing social science research in the age of the internetWorld Social Science Forum, Bergen. May 10-12, 2009

Difficulties in accessing the journals in bookstores and libraries

Reduced number of copies printed

High prices of postage

Cost of inter-library loans

Discontinuity journals library collections

Opportunities: e-publishing and e-libraries

Online submission of documents

Online Management of Publishing(ex.: OJS)

Web access to full-text Institutional website

Journal website Digital library

OA Journal Portals National, regional (ex.SCIELO, REDALYC, CLACSO),

international (ex. DOAJ)

Survey results

225 social science journals from

18 countries of Latin America & Caribbean

225 social science journals from 18 countries of Latin America &

Caribbean

Institions publishing the journals surveyed 58 % university journals 42% research ngo´s / gov. journals

Journal dissemination 68% print and open access web 15% only open access web

Journals in the web (225 social science journals from 18 countries of Latin America & Caribbean)Journals also present in regional journal portals: 57 %

Regional portals (LA&C):

CLACSO (social sciences: 800.000 downloads a month)

Redalyc (all disciplines: 2 millon downloads a month) Scielo (all disciplines: 3 millon downloads a month)

International portals: DOAJ, OJS, Unesco

Pending issues for journals in the web

All volumes Pdf for individual articles metadata “how to cite this article” search facility in journal website Preparation for harvesting (OAI) Digital preservation of collections Sustainability Online sales (subscription + individual articles)