Theology professor on publishing open access
George Corbett is Professor of Theology in the School of Divinity at the University of St Andrews. He has published several works in the fields of Dante studies, sacred music, and theological aesthetics, as well as medieval theology, Thomas Aquinas, and Catholicism. Recently, Corbett completed a monograph on the historical reception of Dante and of Aquinas.
This isn’t to say the professor is stuck in the past, though, as if Virgil were guiding him along each concentric circle of hel… uh, history. More recently, Corbett even collaborated on articles on AI and theology, as part of his ongoing work for the Vatican’s European AI Research Group.
All this work of excavating both past and present has, in Corbett’s experience, been humbling. ‘One of the bigger surprises and challenges,’ he says, ‘is the ever-greater recognition of how much I still have to learn, even to get to grips with my relatively limited fields of research.’
But how does one begin to embark on a journey of acquiring knowledge when so much work is behind paywalls?
Opening doors to research
Corbett is fiercely aware of the predicament. His first two monographs were published traditionally in hardback. ‘Having put a huge amount of work into these books,’ he says, ‘I found it frustrating that the price tag of my books, over which I did not have control, effectively limited circulation to libraries.’
Ever since, Corbett has aimed to make his research easily and freely accessible, publishing many of his own books open access through publishers both small and large. Even those two first monographs, thanks to some research funding, have now been made retrospectively open access.
‘It’s nice to know that now anyone interested in this research, no matter their access to libraries, can at least access it online for free.
Three of Corbett’s works have been published through Open Book Publishers (OBP), an open access book publisher which publishes between 60 to 70 books per year. The first output he published with OBP was a daunting piece: a three-volume set he co-edited called Vertical Readings in Dante’s Comedy. While initially offered inclusion in a prestigious book series, Corbett instead opted for OBP, eagerly wanting his material to be available to all.
‘OBP were brilliant,’ he says, ‘from the timely and efficient peer review, copyediting, and proofing stages to the attractive and affordable paperbacks, free online versions, and publicity.’
Two other books as editor followed with OBP, including Annunciations: Sacred music for the twenty-first century, a highly experimental volume which capitalised on the e-format by including musical scores and links to performances.
‘For me,’ he says, ‘the primary motivation for open access is wanting my research to be easily available to other scholars working in the field, and to students and anyone else potentially interested in reading it.’
Further perspectives on open book publishing
Corbett, however, is also aware of the difficulties that academics face in choosing just where to publish, including both the fees that are sometimes associated with open access, as well as the perceived cost in prestige and reputation.
‘Traditionally,’ he says, ‘major university presses have been seen as gatekeepers to serious scholarship. Given the massive volume of scholarship today, the ability to publish one’s work in a prestigious series with a top university press typically remains important for academic reputation.’
However, Corbett recognises the publishing landscape is rapidly changing, noting how there are potentially many new options for authors aiming to make their work freely available. He highlights both OBP, which does not charge authors any mandatory fees, and larger presses like Cambridge University Press, which have started offering an open access pathway, albeit with a considerable charge attached to it.
But there are others too, such as Scottish Universities Press (SUP), which requires payments still, but at a much more manageable cost, particularly for academics at member institutions like the University of St Andrews.
No matter where Corbett publishes, however, the aim remains the same.
‘The bottom line for me is that I want to be able to share my research with colleagues, without having to buy them copies of my own book!’
Opportunities for St Andrews authors
In addition to SUP, there are other options and opportunities for St Andrews authors. If you are funded by UKRI, for example, there is funding available for eligible projects, with up to £10,000 for books and £1,000 for chapters through an application process to UKRI.
If you are working on a book you wish to make open, you can find out about different options with the OA Books Toolkit. If you have any further questions, though, then please email us at [email protected].