HSRC Press

HSRC Press primarily publishes the output of the Human Sciences Research Council. This is a statutory body that supports development in southern Africa and the entire continent, through large scale social-science research.

HSRC Press has adopted an open access publishing model, also referred to by HSRC Press as Author Pays. The reason for the adoption of this model is that the business objective of HSRC Press is not necessarily to reap financial reward through the turnover from book sales. Instead, with the interest that our publications generate, we aim to attract further research funding and contracts, and crucial avenues of dissemination, which can increase the overall size and influence of the HSRC organisation.

Our business approach is three-pronged and centres on the digital storage and search functionality of the HSRC Press website. Printed books are offered via the website, and can be read on-screen, downloaded for printing or ordered on the website as a POD publication through an e-commerce engine (and supplied on a cost-recovery basis). An outsourced provider has been successfully utilised to produce the paper-based publications and manage the electronic production process.

This model is effective in the southern African and African milieu for a number of reasons. The audience for research and academic publications is dwindling in South Africa, which has put excessive financial pressure on academic publishers. Secondly, dissemination of research publications into Africa is difficult due to the high costs of distribution and slow delivery times. Electronic distribution solves both these problems by reducing production costs and enabling the issue of time and space to be overcome. Whilst ICT is low in Africa, all institutions have a desktop computer from which material can be downloaded. Thirdly, with Africans being seen as consumers rather than producers of academic and research material, electronic dissemination makes it possible for African-created content to be easily distributed internationally, hopefully assisting in reversing the consumer-producer perception.

Some problems that we have identified with using an open access model:
-Language: One of the main issues that are currently faced by HSRC Press is that of language (most publications are in English) and the cost of translating works into other languages. HSRC plans to overcome this issue by building strategic alliances with non-English speaking research institutions in Africa to assist with the sharing of knowledge and resources.

-Researcher resistance: A pitfall which HSRC Press successfully overcame was the perception of researchers themselves, who initially had a negative reaction to the idea of electronic distribution of their work: historically publishing had been about numbers; the more books that were produced (in other words, the higher the print-run), the more successful the project. Researchers were encouraged to see their work as being secondary to institutional goals.

-Fear of copyright infringement: Researchers had to be educated in the web-based environment. HSRC Press permits the use of its work for non-commercial multi-copying. Creative Commons licenses will be used in the near future; discussions with Creative Commons SA are currently underway.

We recommend that market entrants ensure that they understand not only the target audiences’ needs, but have also researched and understood the needs, motivation and desires of the major stakeholders and actors within the organisation/arena. HSRC conducted intensive research into both target market and stakeholders and were able to successfully move to an open access model which has had a positive impact on HSRC’s financial results since the inception of the model.

This report has been made possible by using the case study compiled by Eve Gray & Associates entitled Digital Publishing and Open Access for Social Science Research Dissemination.’

Contact:
www.hsrc.ac.za
E-mail: publishing@hsrc.ac.za
Tel: +27 21 466 8000, Fax: +27 21 461 0836,
Postal Address:
HSRC Press,
Human Sciences Research Council Private Bag X9182,
Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

Physical Address:
16th Floor,
Pleinpark Building,
69-83 Plein Street,
Cape Town