Willinski, John. "Toward the Design of an Open Monograph Press."
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Willinski, John. ???Toward the Design of an Open Monograph Press.??? The Journal of Electronic Publishing. 12.1 (2009). 16 Oct 2010. [1]
Reviewed by Amy Dyrbye
John Willinsky???s article ???Toward the Design of an OpenMonograph Press??? (2009) presents his vision for an open accesspublication model for monographs or books. The model is designed tocorrect the problems currently facing monograph publishing. Heclearly defines the challenges and deficiencies with thetraditional mode of monograph publication and the concernsregarding access. In doing so, his purpose is twofold: to buildsupport for the open access system, and to present his OpenMonograph Press software as the best facilitator. The article isaimed the editors, authors, reviewers, copyeditors and otherpersons involved in traditional scholarly publication,demonstrating to them how such software can ease the costs andeffort entailed by journal publication and allow them to providequality scholarly writing without relying on a formalpublisher.
The initial pages of the article are devoted to the state of monograph publication at present. Willinsky contrasts the rising importance of journal publication as the primary currency of scholarly merit within the academic economy with the rising financial burden on libraries as publication costs increase. He proposes that open access publication is a practical and feasible means to address the problem of university publishers increasingly viewing monographs as a risky investment and the corresponding negative impact on their availability. Some notable forays into digital publication are highlighted. Willinski also touches on issues of key relevance to open access publication, including digital rights management, preservation, subscription and maintaining the quality of content and the peer review process. All this is prologue to prepare the reader for a detailing of the regions in which well-designed software may assist the publication process, specifically the Open Monograph Press.
The bulk of the article is devoted to the design of the OpenMonograph Press. Willinski pays particular attention to outliningthe utility of the design to all stages of the publication process,even to how article authors could use plug-in software to becomedirectly involved in the use of their writing. As the article isinvested in promoting the open access model, the concerns that havebeen voiced about it are not addressed until the end of thearticle, where they become an afterthought relating risk tocomfort. Rather than fending off criticism, Willinski???s approachis overwhelmingly to bypass it to focus on promoting the benefitsof the Open Monograph Press. His article is thus well-paired withPeter Suber???s ???A Primer on Open Access to Science andScholarship???, which takes a point-by-point approach that providea more balanced perspective. Even still, further research will berequired to fully understand the opposing view.
