The International Journal of the Commons is a new journal set-up by the International Association for the Study of Commons [IASC]. The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles and book reviews. The editors will take both separate articles and proposals for special thematic issues into consideration.
IASC is an association devoted to understanding and improving institutions for the management of environmental resources that are (or could be) held or used collectively. Many will refer to such resources and their systems of usage as “commons”. To be able to provide peer reviewed knowledge of current research on commons to the persons needing it, IASC seeks funding for a journal.
There are two important reasons for IASC to do this on its own rather than having a commercial publisher doing it for us. Both have to do with the cost of journals and journal publishing.
Our research is relevant to both teaching and policy discussions of resource governance and ought to be easily available to students, practitioners, and professionals around the world, particularly in developing countries. A majority of our members come from academic institutions in developing countries. Academic institutions in developing countries have fewer resources devoted to journal subscriptions and fewer resources available to pay for printing of journal papers. Therefore IASC wants to publish a journal presenting the best of the research on commons.
IASC provides a platform for researchers and practitioners in developing and industrialized countries to come together, across disciplinary lines, and share knowledge of common property resource management. Most of the research reported at our conferences concerns natural resources. Currently this research is scattered among 10-15 journals. All of them are costly to get. Papers published on commons issues need to be in the public domain, freely available to all, and, in addition, scholars should not be charged any author fee to cover costs of publishing.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 10/24/2006 04:23:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
