Open access i praktiken. Fokus på humaniora och rättsvetenskap

This article deals with the possibilities for Open Access (OA) publishing for Nordic researchers in law and in the humanities. Fifty-two journal editors answered a survey with questions on publishing in OA journals and on parallel publishing. The results show that the number of journals with a clear OA policy is low though a number of journals make articles freely available on the Internet without such a policy. The need to discuss the concept of OA in its relation to gratis, “available without cost” as opposed to libre, “available without cost and free of most judicial restraints”, becomes visible in the study. This is necessary, not least when considering research funders’ demand for OA. Many journals are positive towards parallel publishing. However, for many journals there has never been a need to draft a policy due to a lack of demand from authors. The journals consider parallel publishing as a means to communicate research and to publicize the journal. The investigation also shows that written author contracts are rare. This means that copyright stays with the author, which would provide possibilities for parallel publishing.