Altertum ganz neu: Bücher Open Access publizieren

Abstract

The discussion about open access strategies in ancient studies is being triggered more and more by the growing need for freely accessible research publications. Various reasons suggest that publishing books ‘gold’ open access leads to a number of consequent benefits. However, only few established publishers offer the opportunity of publishing in Open Access, and furthermore they often charge substantial fees. Today, the most important alternatives are university-based, institutional or publication platforms that are specific to singular disciplines. In this article we will discuss the responsibilities that come with publishing books in Open Access. We will present current possibilities for publishing Open Access books in the field of ancient studies and weigh their advantages and disadvantages. Thereby, it becomes evident that a successful strategy for establishing Open Access publications has to be both a permanent and a specifically discipline related solution: a setup of publication structures specifically for ancient studies that are financed by a network of public scientific institutions. In the long-term, professional and non-profit publishing houses should be created that will spread new knowledge of ancient studies freely accessible.