Abstract - Michael Kaiser
Michael Kaiser
Stiftung DGIA(click on the title to see the presentation slides)
"Open Access in the humanities: accepted – appreciated?"
The paper deals with OA in the humanities with a strong focus on history. It is based on my experience with several online journals and platforms like zeitenblicke.de and perspectivia.net. Right from the start online publications in historical science were accessible to everyone. They were strictly OA even before this term was coined. Historians became aware of this new scientific offering and started to use it: They read and quoted OA publications, and wrote for them as well. In the course of time online publications were widely accepted. But up to now acceptance is not to be confused with real appreciation. Being strictly conservative to the core, many scientists use OA publications, although they despise them. What seems to be contradictory at first glance, is to be explained further in the paper. Keywords to understand this attitude are “lack of interest” and “stubbornness” but also “fear” and “lack of information”.
