How Open Access can disrupt the current system of assessment procedures and quality indicators for scholarly books: The case of the Croatian publishing landscape

Abstract:  Academic books are objects of special value in the cycle of scholarly communication in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). This value can be assigned, described, and assessed by different actors in academia at different points in the communication process, in ways that tend to be more formal and objective but are also frequently based on complex, informal and subjective notions of quality. An important feature of the academic book publishing system has been recognised and can best be related to the concept of ‘bibliodiversity’. Aside from publishing at the international level (usually by big publishing companies), a significant body of knowledge is (and has been in the past) produced and circulated within smaller national and regional landscapes. Such country- specific ecosystems of academic book publishers are key to the survival of epistemic and linguistic plurality in research as well as its societal impact and relevance Traditionally, many of these European national ecosystems have consisted of small and mid-sized publishers, public or private, often subsidised by public resources since market-based strategies have not been sufficient to enable their financial sustainability. In multiple ways, the financial sustainability of publishers was reliant on the value of the books they were publishing, as perceived and assessed by authors, reviewers, readers, libraries, funding agencies, and government bodies, or bodies performing research assessments. The transition to Open Access (OA) is inevitable even for these small national landscapes; it is beneficial for both the authors and the audience and is often fostered by national OS policies. However, it can bring disruption into already fragile and vulnerable ecosystems, and this refers particularly to the countries that belong to the so-called scientific semi-periphery. While publishers will need to find ways to provide new services, better adjusted to the open circulation of knowledge, this will inevitably result in a changed understanding of what constitutes ‘quality’ and ‘prestige’ in book publishing, impact the ways in which books are evaluated and assessed, and have consequences on the publishers’ sustainability.