Diffusionism and open access
| Date | 13 January 2012 |
| Pages | 72-99 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00220411211200338 |
| Published date | 13 January 2012 |
| Author | Jingfeng Xia |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Diffusionism and open access
Jingfeng Xia
School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Indianapolis,
Indiana, USA
Abstract
Purpose – This article aims to explore the geographic distribution of open access practices in the
world from a diffusionist perspective.
Design/methodology/approach – The article applies a tempo-spatial analysis to examine the
diffusion movement of open access practices from the West to the entire world during the past several
decades. Both maps and tables are used to support the analysis. The diffusionist theory is reviewed
and applied to the understanding of open access.
Findings – The paper discovers that technology is not the only factor determining the diffusion
pattern of information systems as discussed in the literature. Cultural dissimilarities across countries
have played a significant role in open access development. Open access can only be effectively
established after it meets local standards.
Practical implications – The findings help understanding of why open access has a
disproportionate growth among developing countries, and even among developed countries, where
the ICT infrastructure has been in place.
Originality/value – Few studies have taken a transnational view to analyze open access geography
at the global level, and few have been able to synthesize models to interpret diverse discoveries.
Furthermore, a chronological evaluation tracing the history of open access spatial expansion is absent
in the literature.
Keywords Open access expansion,Tempo-spatial distribution,Technology innovation,
Cultural adaptation,Open access, Innovation, Culture(Sociology)
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The spatial characteristics of open access (OA) practice have recently been explored
(e.g. Evans and Reimer, 2009). Many of the relevant studies have focused on an
examination of OA citation patterns between developed and developing countries in
order to understand scholars’ behavior in OA participation by geographic distribution
(Frandsen, 2008; Gaule
´, 2009; Norris et al., 2008). Yet very few, if any, have attempted
to investigate issues beyond the variation of OA citation behavior with regard to
location difference. Few studies have taken a transnational view to analyze OA
geography at the global level, and few have been able to synthesize models to interpret
diverse discoveries. Furthermore, a chronological evaluation tracing the history of OA
spatial expansion is absent in the literature.
It is commonly recognized that OA originated in the West, specifically the USA and
Western Europe,and then spread over the scholarly communitiesin the rest of the world
(Suber, 2009;Swan and Brown, 2005). This transnationaldiffusion of the OA concept and
practice is the result of advancement in information and communication technologies
(ICT), mainly the internet, at various levels across different countries in response to the
deteriorated access to scholarly information due to sharp increases in the cost of
publication subscriptions internationally (Chan et al., 2005; Suber and Arunachalam,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
JDOC
68,1
72
Received 1 October 2010
Revised 8 February 2011
Accepted 21 March 2011
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 68 No. 1, 2012
pp. 72-99
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/00220411211200338
2005). Regional adoption strategies have created distinct expressions of OA practice.
Thus, it is appropriate to take the analysis of OA geography within the framework of
cultural diffusionism established in anthropological, cultural geographical, and
information systems studies. It is also helpful to include other aspects of the OA
practice in additionto citation patterns, such as OA publishing andself-archiving, in the
transnational analysis to better identify the trajectory of OA spatial extension across a
technological as well as cultural, political and linguistic spectrum.
The diffusionist theory was first introduced to anthropological research by Boas
(1938) and Kroeber (1940), and was then applied to studies in many other academic
fields such as geography, business and economics (Kautz and Larsen, 2000). Rogers
(1962) and Goffman and Newill (1964, 1967) adapted the theory in the analysis of
information systems and information retrieval. This present article will briefly revie w
the theory and attempt to understand OA development from a diffusionist perspective.
Spatial characteristics of OA practice
The Budapest statement defined open access as “the world-wide electronic distribution
of the peer-reviewed journal literature and completely free and unrestricted access to it
by all” (Budapest Open Access Initiative, 2002). Lately, intellectual products other than
journal articleshave been included in the definition(e.g. Lynch and Lippincott, 2005).To
achieve open access, necessary infrastructure has been created in the form of OA
journals and OA repositories (both institutional and disciplinary based). Scholars
participate in the OA movement by making contributions to these digital mechanisms
through publishing freely accessible articles in OA journals or by self-archiving their
research outcomes in OA repositories. Scholars’ participation in OA can also be
demonstrated by theirsearching, reading and citation of OA materials. The above-listed
areas of OA practice are tangible and can be measured. Other OA activities, such as
vocal advocacy, cannot be measured and are thus unrepresented in OA activity data.
According to the timeline compiled by Peter Suber (2009), the early OA movement
prior to 1990 existed predominantly in the USA. In the early 1990s, an increasing
Western European effort to promote OA, mainly the UK, was recorded. It was not until
the latter partof the 1990s, and even after the turn of thenew millennium, that the rest of
the world started joining the movement by providing free online access to scientific and
scholarly researchliterature. Yet today, some developing countries, particularlythose in
Africa, are still struggling with successfullybuilding an effective OA system. This trend
of transnational OA migration is reflected in each area of the measurable OA practices.
OA platforms
OA journals and repositories represent two complementary open access vehicles that
function by collecting and publishing scholarly literature, and providing free access to
everyone. The former contains born-digital content and entails a peer-review (or
editor-review) system for the purpose of quality control in scholarship. The latter
archives e-prints to serve a particular institution or an academic discipline. Although
each of these OA models retains nuances in its operation and structure, both have
experienced long-term development since their inception decades ago.
The first computer-mediated free journals appeared in the late 1980s, including
Bryn Mawr Classical Review,Postmodern Culture,Psycoloquy,andThe Public-Access
Computer Systems Review, all of which were sponsored or published in the USA.
Diffusionism and
open access
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