--- layout: post status: publish published: true title: Call For Participants to Build a PLOS-style Model for the Humanities and Social Sciences wordpress_id: 2576 wordpress_url: https://www.martineve.com/?p=2576 date: !binary |- MjAxMy0wMS0wOSAyMDowNTo1MSArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMy0wMS0wOSAyMDowNTo1MSArMDEwMA== categories: - Technology - Open Access - Academia tags: - Publishing - OA - PLOS comments: [] --- <p>For quite some time, I have been interested in/incensed by the scholarly publication system; the exclusions, iniquities and absurdities of it can be clearly seen from only a brief survey of the economic field. I have watched with despair as the sciences have made projects work while the humanities and social sciences have almost sleepwalked into a disaster. The Finch Report published in the UK and accepted by the government will wreak havoc on our <i>modus operandi</i> and work to stratify an already split field.</p> <p>Following conversations with various figures by email, including <a href="http://www.cameronneylon.net">Cameron Neylon</a>, <a href="http://www.tjm.org">Tim McCormick</a> and <a href="http://svpow.com/">Mike Taylor</a>, I have decided to extend a call for those who share my thoughts, most notably: it doesn't have to be this way. We can eradicate much exclusion by building a system that is fit for purpose, more egalitarian and sustainable -- a <a href="http://www.plohss.org/">Public Library of Science model for the Humanities and Social Sciences</a>. I can't do it on my own, though. I need individuals and organizations to contact me so that I can form a mailing list, start brainstorming ideas, accrue startup funding, get the reputation and intellectual capital behind the system and generally get this massive project rolling.</p> <p>Whatever your expertise, please get in touch; here are some examples:</p> <ul> <li>Senior (or not so senior) academics who can lend their experience, knowledge and reputation to the project</li> <li>Journal editors who would like to move to a sustainable Open Access model</li> <li>Journalists who can promote the project</li> <li>People with experience in finance who can help with sustainability forecasts</li> <li>Librarians and infrastructure specialists/programmers to build the platform</li> <li>Institutions who are interested in participating and supporting the project</li> <li>Those with experience of funding applications for a project of this size</li> <li>Anybody who generally supports the idea and wants to express this!</li> </ul> <p>This is an invitation and a challenge: help me build a better future for academic publication.</p> <p>Visit: <a href="http://www.plohss.org/">http://www.plohss.org</a></p>